


Blood Bound

by RadientWings



Category: Teen Wolf (TV), Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Caroline and Stiles are siblings, Family, Gen, Stilinski Family Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 40,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadientWings/pseuds/RadientWings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a time when Caroline's brother Stiles was her best friend; moving away changed that. Despite the fact that the siblings spend every summer together, the two find themselves drifting apart. But then when she and Stiles both fall into their own supernatural worlds, they realize they have more in common than they thought…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Alone, Apart, Afraid

**Author's Note:**

> As much as I would like to avoid long-winded explanations in the A/N, this time it is kind of needed because, as with many crossovers, sometimes major themes and such need to be changed, etc. So, I’ll just start with one very important thing, that I really do suggest you read as it will help with the understanding of the story; otherwise this might get confusing.
> 
> Timeline Issues: Basically, this will be set towards the end of season 4 of TVD; however, in terms of the school year, I am going to make a change and say that the vampiric/supernatural events took place during the summer between junior and senior year. This, of course, means there isn’t a graduation just around the corner as the present day of this story is set in the first few weeks of senior year. As for Teen Wolf, I won’t be moving back the timeline but moving it forward; so the pack are also currently in the beginning of their senior year. However, plotline wise they are about midway through season 3a.

Caroline woke up in confusion, bewildered as to why she was sleeping on the forest floor in the middle of the night. Looking around she noticed her phone lying next to her amidst the many leaves that littered the ground. _What happened?_ And then Caroline felt the lingering pain in her chest and her foggy mind began pulling out her memories. _Stake. I was staked._ The blonde’s hand immediately flew to her chest in panic, feeling only slightly relieved to find it wasn’t there anymore.

 _Who staked- Wait. It was Klaus…_ She shivered at the thought of his angry face, the fury in his eyes as he had pushed her against that tree. He’d never looked at her with so much _hate_ before. _No, no… it wasn’t Klaus… it was_ Silas. 

 _Shit, shit. This is_ not _good._

Caroline immediately grabbed for her phone, scrambling to her feet, fear engulfing her at the thought that the oldest creature in existence was tormenting her. She found herself panicking, unable to stop it. As soon as she was up, she began running, heading instinctively to the nearest building, her dead heart beating so hard she thought it might explode out of her chest.

“Caroline! Where’ve you been?” The blonde screamed as she suddenly felt hands grab her by the wrists, frantic until she saw familiar blue eyes looking down at her.

“Matt!” She exclaimed with some relief, though her fear could still clearly be heard. “We have to get out of here.” She told him desperately, already pulling him along, her only thoughts of being far, _far_ away from this place. 

“No, Caroline, Caroline, wait, it’s okay.” Matt held fast, making the vampire turn back to her friend, her heart running wild as she tried to explain herself.

“No it’s not okay!” She insisted, holding her hands to her face, frustrated and scared. “Silas was out there and he made think he was Klaus and-”

“What are you talking about? What’s Silas want with you?” Matt interrupted her.

“He’s trying to get to Bonnie.”  Caroline took a deep breath, getting her mind back on track. “Do you know where Bonnie is?”

And then the expression on Matt’s face turned from curious concern to one of malice, making Caroline’s chest fill with dread. “If I knew where she was I wouldn’t bother with _you_.” He growled, suddenly grabbing her by the throat and choking her; the blonde barely let out a gasp as his hands encircled her neck. _Silas._ “Now get me Bonnie or I’m going to kill someone…” Caroline felt her panic rise, “…maybe I’ll start with your beloved aunt.”

_No!_

With a sudden burst of strength, Caroline managed to break free from his hold before running away from him as fast she could, her mind operating on pure instinct. She saw the nearby building and ran for the stairs behind it, sprinting up them, looking back to see if Silas had followed her. For a moment she thought she was safe until she ran into a rock solid body and hands seized her arms tightly.

"No one in the house can help you." It was again Klaus' face looking at her now, his blue eyes that usually conveyed so much more to her now only looking at her with unadulterated hatred. His hands held her tightly, fingers digging into her skin. _Silas._ God, she _hated_ him. "Find Bonnie or I’ll kill the person you love the most." And then her worst fears came true because the next thing she knew, she blinked and the face looking back at her was no longer that of Klaus.

Instead, deep hazel eyes looked down at her from a slightly taller figure, his brown hair longer than the last time she'd seen him, similar to the way he wore it when they were younger. The expression on his face was twisted, however, out of place. Too cruel, too sadistic to ever belong on the face of the best person she knew. That same person who could always make her laugh and smile even in the worst of times, the one person she knew she could _always_ depend on… and the one person who could never know what was _really_ out there, who she hadn’t seen since she’d been turne. Who she wanted nothing more than to _protect_.

“You can’t. You _can’t_ , he’s not here.” Caroline whispered, looking up at the monster wearing her brother’s face. _Please, please not Stiles._ She couldn’t bear to see this sick and perverse version of him.

“Oh I wouldn’t be so sure.” Silas smirked with Stiles’ features, the usually familiar face contorted. “Your brother is not as safe as you want him to be.” He told her with malicious delight as his fingers tightened painfully around her upper arms.

“What are you talking about? He’s out of your reach.” Caroline insisted, desperation edging into her voice as the panic set in. _Oh God no not my brother, not Stiles, please, please, not him. He can’t be hurt. He can’t be hurt. Please._

Silas’ smirk only widened. “Maybe out of _my_ reach, but there are others under my command… others considerably closer to him right now than you or I…” Caroline’s dead heart stopped in her chest, her entire body suddenly going numb as her mind filled with horrible thoughts and situations that simply _could not happen._

“No… Oh God, _please_ , no…” She barely noticed that she said the words aloud, too focused on the plea in them, her entire _soul_ filled with dread.

“No, you’re right…” Silas said after a moment, contemplatively, his voice cruelly, _painfully_ familiar. “Maybe it won’t be big brother tonight; but it looks I can’t say the same thing for your aunt after all.” Her relief that Stiles, the _real_ Stiles, would remain unharmed, at least for now, immediately turned to ash as she though about her aunt. _Oh God, Liz._

In an instant, Silas threw her brutally from the stairs, sending her crashing harshly to the ground with a scream of agony and fear. This time Caroline didn’t wait as she scrambled back to her feet, using her vampire speed to get her away as fast as possible. _Liz. I need to make sure she’s ok._ Her thoughts went into overdrive, for now putting her brother back into that little box at the back of her mind where she always kept him. She needed focus on the present and solely on that. She couldn’t allow her distraction to get the woman who’s been like a second mother to her killed.

When she saw her car was within her reach, she took her cell phone out hurriedly and dialed her aunt, hoping to god that she was ok. They’ve had their rough patches over the years that Caroline had lived with her, but she still loved the woman, especially after they mended things when she turned. _I can’t Liz get hurt, not after everything we’ve been through._ When her aunt finally picked up, Caroline warned her and told her to go home, clambering into her car all the while. She made the phone call as quickly as possible, driving away as soon as she was done.

Even then Silas continued to torment her, reappearing and trying to push her off track, but she didn't let him this time. She wouldn’t fail her family. She _wouldn’t_.

So, later, when Silas managed to trick her _again_ , managed to get around her and hurt Liz just like he said he would, it tore Caroline apart. She’d done exactly what she told herself she wouldn't. She’d failed.

Again.

But it was the thought of her brother, of Stiles also getting hurt because of her that allowed Caroline to get her control back and save Liz, even if just barely. Still, at the end of the night, Caroline and her aunt had both survived and the young blonde vampire realized something very important.

She had to protect Stiles in any way she could. She had to keep Silas away from him.

She had to go home…

It was about time. 

* * *

  _“1, 2, 3…” The tiny blonde girl said, her hands held tightly over her eyes. “…4, 5, 6…” She kept counting, messing up a few times but always getting back to the right numbers; just like her teacher and her mommy and daddy had taught her. They always told her and her brother not to rush, said that that was the only reason why they both had trouble with certain things; her brother was even worse than her at it though. She leaned against the tree only a little longer until she finally reached 30. “Ready or not here I come!” The six-year-old yelled gleefully, her words lisping a bit, still not completely used to all the sounds she had to make to speak properly._

_She walked carefully over the leaves and twigs that littered the floor of the forest, looking all around her for her brother. She wanted to find him as quickly as she could, to prove that she was just as smart as her big brother no matter what he said. The little girl thought she found what she looking for when something suddenly jumped out from behind the tree next to her._

_“Boo!” Stiles shouted, startling his little sister and causing her to trip and fall, scraping her knee badly in the process._

_Caroline screamed in surprise as she fell, hitting the floor hard. Tears were already building up in her eyes when she managed to sit up somewhat. “Ow, ow…” She whimpered, her throat clogging up as the pain continued to sting in her knee and in her palms, the skin there red and raw._

_“Oh man!” Stiles immediately scrambled towards his sister, going as fast as his seven-year-old body carry him. “I’m sorry Care, y’okay?” He asked, flailing wildly around her as she started to cry, not knowing what to do. “Mom and Dad are gonna be so mad.” He groaned before turning back to his injured sibling. “Um… It’s ok, Care, it’s ok; I’ll bring you back to Mommy now, she’ll make you all better.” He said, trying to sound calm and comforting like Mommy did when either of them got an ouchie._

_“But it hurts, Stiles.” Caroline said sadly, a fat tear rolling down her rosy cheek. She looked up at her brother with huge, glassy blue eyes, her little heart breaking._

_Stiles sighed, before sitting down next to her, his intelligent, young mind whirring. “Do you know why Mommy can make you better?” He asked finally, smiling at his new plan, brown eyes twinkling with his usual mischief._  

“ _No…” Caroline sniffled, confused._

_“Well it’s coz she’s our mom – all moms have a special make-better power that only work on their kids.” The elder Stilinksi replied knowingly, gesturing enthusiastically with his arms._

_“Really?” The blonde asked, wide-eyed._

_“Uhuh.”_  

 _“But how do you_ know _?” Caroline pressed, her hand clutching desperately around her knee, wanting to make the pain go away._

 _Stiles looked at her as if she was stupid. “Coz I’m your big brother, I know everything.” He told her in a_ duh _tone._

_“Oh, ok.” She nodded, not arguing. Stiles always told her that big brothers were better at everything than their little sisters; that was just the way it worked, according to him. Naturally, Caroline believed him, though she wouldn’t for much longer._

_“Now, come on.” Stiles said in triumph, having managed to calm her down at least a little, scrambling to his feet and helping Caroline when she started to struggle. They walked a few steps silently when the blonde girl stopped abruptly, looking at her brother pleadingly._

_“Stiles…” She called out nervously._

_“What_ now _, Care?”_

_Can I-Can I hold your hand like I do with Mommy?” Stiles was about to refuse when another tear rolled slowly down her cheek, and her eyes widened impossibly more. “Please?”_

If Mommy knows I made her cry, I am so busted _._

 _He was resigned to his fate. “_ Fine _.” He held out his small hand reluctantly, allowing his little sister to quickly clutch it. He immediately started walking again, slowing down only the tiniest bit for Caroline. Sometimes it was difficult being the older one, he thought, it meant you always had to help and share your toys. Still, he supposed he could deal with having to hold her hand (and_ no _he did not like it – girls were full of cooties, even sisters, everyone knew that), after all, Mommy and Daddy always said that he had to look out for his sister._

 _That was his job._  

 _Little did he know that Caroline thought much the same thing, only about_ him _._

* * *

_“Stiles! Give it back! Give it back now!" Caroline cried out angrily, chasing after her annoying brother as he ran (well more like stumbled) through the house, triumphantly clutching his younger sibling's favorite Barbie doll. The blonde eight-year-old hated this of course and was practically fuming. As she chased Stiles into the kitchen she suddenly came up with the perfect plan to get him to stop and get her much-deserved revenge. "Mom! Stiles took my doll!" She called out to where her mother was cutting up some vegetables for dinner._

_"Stiles stop pestering your sister, you should know better, honey." Claudia Stilinski said calmly, used to the siblings' constant bickering by now._

_"But Mom!" Stiles whined, coming to a stop beside her, looking up at her with honest brown eyes, his stance even more twitchy than normal. "She started it - she's the one who was playing with my toys first!" He insisted, stuttering only the slightest bit in his frustration._

_Claudia took a deep breath, knowing from their tones this would take more than just few words of instruction. She put down her knife, cleaning her hands off on one of the kitchen towels before turning around and crouching in front of her daughter, whose little head was down as she stared at her shuffling feet. "Caroline?" The older woman asked gently. "Is that true, sweetheart? Did you take your brother's stuff without asking him first?"_

_Caroline's upper lip trembled. "Yes, Mommy." She said quietly, ashamed; she really hated disappointing her mom. But Claudia only sighed a little bit, carefully tilting the young girl's chin up so she could look at her properly, before she reached for her son, bringing him in front of her as well._

_"Come here both of you." She said, placing a hand on each of their shoulders and staying crouched so that she could make eye contact with them. She'd learned quite a while ago that her children were more prone to listen to her if she talked to them like they were all equals. They were both very intelligent, she and her husband were able to tell that from the start, and they liked to be treated as such. "Look kids, you two are family, right?" She waited until they both nodded hesitantly. “That means you care about each other...” She watched in amusement as the two looked at each other, identical expression of appraisal and semi-annoyance on their young faces. “I think getting into fights about things like toys isn't really needed, now is it?” Claudia continued after they nodded again, slightly sheepish looks on their faces. "No, I didn't think so...” She paused for a moment, allowing it to sink in before clapping her hands together once. “Now, do you think you can share a little more?" Again, her children looked at each other, only this time without all the added annoyance; they seemed to come to some sort of conclusion as they turned back to her at the same time._

_"Ok." Stiles said, deciding that he should be the first to agree with his mom as he was the oldest. Claudia smiled fondly at her son, knowing him well enough to know what his reasoning was._

_"Yes, Mommy." Caroline spoke quietly, still wearing the smallest look of guilt on her features as she looked up to her mother, whose fond smile had gentled at the sight of her youngest child and only daughter looking so guilty over such a small thing. Caroline had such a good heart and so did Stiles; she often found herself wondering how she’d gotten kids like this._

_"Good." Claudia said kindly before reaching out and tugging both children to her, embracing them tightly. It didn't last long until Stiles started squirming causing her to immediately let go, giving them a gentle push out of the kitchen. "Now go off and play for a bit more while I get dinner ready."_

_“C'mon Care!” Stiles immediately exclaimed, grabbing his sister’s wrist and dragging her off, twitchy as usual. “I have an idea...” Claudia chuckled as they ran off to the living room, watching as her son animatedly explained his plans to Caroline; despite their bickering they actually got along quite well, little partners crime. She shook her head, a smile still present on her face as she went back to cutting the vegetables._

_As she continued making the simple meal, she found it harder and harder to concentrate on it, the dull panging that had been in her head all day growing louder. It had been happening a lot lately, sudden migraines, once or twice she had even begun shaking uncontrollably. Claudia maintained that it was nothing to worry about, and tried to hide it, not even telling her husband. She told herself that it was nothing, just stress… It had to be just stress… A piercing pain ran through her brain again, and Claudia couldn’t help letting out the tiniest groan. She shook her head, trying in vain to clear it but only ending up making herself dizzy._

_It was getting worse. Much worse._

_The world around her began to blur, her vision coming in and out. The knife she was holding slipped through numb fingers, clattering loudly to the floor. The sound of it made the needles in her brain intensify to knives and daggers. Claudia raised shaky hands to her face, her entire body trembling and twitching, much harsher than Stiles ever did. She attempted to move towards the kitchen stool, her foggy, pained mind still aware enough to know she wouldn’t be able stand for much longer. Unfortunately, it seemed her body was no longer listening to her and the next thing Claudia knew she herself had fallen to the floor. Disoriented, she tried to keep her eyes open, but all she could see were black dots and fading images. As her eyes roved around she noticed indistinctly that the knife she’d dropped before was now covered in red. Her sluggish eyes moved slowly her arm, realizing that there was a deep cut there, gruesome and crimson. She couldn’t focus on it for long though, the harsh pangs in her head now making her see flashes, sudden pictures of everything and nothing._

_“Mom! Mommy?” Vaguely, she realized that it was Stiles that was now over her, trying to shake her awake. She tried to do what he wanted to her to do but found she couldn’t, no matter how hard she tried. Her eyes were simply to heavy, her mind clouded and lethargic._

_“Stiles, what do we do? Stiles!” Claudia heard another voice, higher pitched and terrified, briefly recognizing it as Caroline’s._

_“I don't know... I don't know...” She only just heard her son’s reply, his shouts becoming the tiniest of whispers as the world around her began to fade._

_Claudia’s flickered, listlessly rolling around._

_And they closed. And all she saw was black._

* * *

_“C'mon Stiles, Auntie Liz is going get us something to eat in the cafeteria.” Caroline said, tugging at her brother. Stiles pulled his arm away stubbornly and shifted uncomfortably in his seat; for a place that was supposed to heal people, hospitals weren’t exactly cozy places. It was annoying, to be honest, especially since as of late most of the siblings’ time was spent in and out of the hospital, though it wasn’t there own health that kept them there._

_“No, I wanna stay here.” The elder of the two Stilinski siblings replied, his hand trembling the slightest bit as he reached for one of his mother’s. It was waxy and cold between his warm fingers. His hazel eyes flicked up to her face, shocked even now at her appearance. His mother had always been a beautiful woman, with soft fair skin, bright blonde curls and the same hazel eyes that he had, eyes that had always been filled with laughter and joy. Now, though, now her hair had fallen out because of the chemo, her skin was cracked and aged, and her eyes… they were sad. Always sad. Stiles had made it his mission to bring happiness to those eyes again. It had been more than a year since Stiles had last seen only joy in them, more than a year since he and Caroline had found her collapsed on the kitchen floor. And now here they were, all of them hoping that the thing that was eating away at his mother would just go away._

_“You sure?” Caroline asked again, interrupting his melancholic thoughts._

_“Yeah.” He replied after a moment, voice cracking a bit._

_His sister seemed to consider for a moment before she replied with a slight shrug. “Ok, I’ll see you later Stiles.” The younger Stilinski then leaned forward and pressed a quick peck to her mother’s cheek. “See you later Mommy.” She whispered, a little sad. The fact that her mom managed to send a tiny smile her way lifted Caroline’s spirits, however, and she nearly skipped out of the room._

_As she headed to the hallway, her aunt took her hand gently, knowing the little girl well enough that she needed some form of comfort. These past two years had been hard on everyone in the Stilinksi and Forbes families, but none more so than the two kids. Before they went down to the hospital cafeteria, Liz stopped at the nurse’s station, checking up on a few things. Caroline stood patiently at her side when a shiver suddenly went up her bare arms._

_“Auntie Liz, I forgot my sweater. Can I get it?” She asked, tugging at her aunt’s arm._

_The blonde woman nodded. “Ok, honey, I’m just going to talk with the nurse’s a bit longer so come back here after, alright?”_

_“Ok.” Caroline immediately ran off, wanting to hurry, only as she once again neared the room in which her mother and brother were she started feeling sick to her stomach, and not hungry sick. The kind of sick that filled your entire stomach and made your heart beat hard in your chest. Caroline couldn’t seem to shake it off but she decided to ignore it anyways, bursting into the hospital room that was now so familiar to her._

_“Sorry Mommy, Stiles, I just forgo-” The ten-year-old stopped abruptly when she realized what she was seeing, her eyes filled with a horrible image. Numbly, she realized that Stiles standing, yelling at their mother, desperate and hoarse. Her eyes went from her brother’s panicked expression to the pale body in the bed… the very same body that had bare moments_ smiled _at her. And then her eyes flicked to the machine by her mommy’s bed, the one that usually had squiggly lines on it but now was flat and making a long high-pitched noise. The machine that Caroline had known for a while now was tuned to her mom’s heart._

 _“No…” Caroline let out, suddenly bursting blindly forward and practically pushing Stiles out of the way, wanting nothing more than to get to her mom and prove that this,_ all _of this was just a stupid a lie, a nightmare. Something like this just couldn’t be real, right?_ Right? _As her mind filled with nothing but panic and utter denial, Stiles startled next to her, only just realizing she was there._

_“Caroline. You shouldn’t… shouldn’t see…” He stopped in his movements as the emotion melted off his face, barely getting the words out as he stopped in his frantic movements; Caroline immediately took over, her mind refusing to accept what was in front of her and instead focusing on doing what Stiles had been trying to do barely seconds before her; she needed to wake her mom up._

_“Mom?” Caroline whispered, putting one of her hands on her mom’s unnaturally cold arm. “Mommy.” She said, louder this time. “You have to wake up, Mommy.” She waited impatiently for her mother to open her eyes… but they stayed firmly closed. “Wake up! Mommy, it’s time to wake up!” Caroline was shouting now, voice cracking, desperation running through her entire body, through her very soul as she tried vehemently to deny what was happening before her. She started shaking the pale body in front of her, putting as much force into it as she could, thinking that_ maybe _if she was able to shake her hard enough, her mom would open her eyes. “Mommy!” Caroline cried continuously, her cries turning into sobs as tears spilled from eyes, her throat clogging up with horrible emotion. “Mommy,_ please _.”_

 _She continued to shake her helplessly, not ready to give up just yet, her own smaller frame shivering with the sheer force of her emotions._ She’s just sleeping, she’s just sleeping, she’ll wake up any second now, she’s just sleeping, _Caroline’s mind chanted in despair._

_And then she felt movement from beside her, but not by her mother. The next thing she knew, Stiles was pulling her away from their mother and she was fighting him with all her might. Caroline tried to reach for their mom, wanting nothing more than for her to just open her eyes. She didn’t understand, didn’t want to understand. Even though for the past two years now, she’d learned what exactly the concept of death was, right now, at this moment, she just couldn’t accept it._

_“Stop, Care, please just stop.” Stiles’ voice was hoarse and terribly broken, not sounding at all like the eleven-year-old boy that he was as he tried to quell his sister’s struggles. His face was devoid of emotion, almost as if he had shut himself down. But his eyes… they were cloudy and horribly pained. It was as if he had aged twenty years in a single, dreadful moment. Eventually, Caroline stopped struggling and her knees gave out as she wailed. Stiles went down with her, his arms still around his younger sibling, subconsciously holding on for dear life as they waited for the doctor’s and nurses to come trampling in. And whilst the smaller of the two hid her face in her brother’s shirt, sobbing, confused and heartbroken, Stiles could only stare, only look at the dead body of his mom._

_The image would haunt him for the rest of his life._

* * *

_“What are you_ doing _John?” Liz Forbes demanded, looking at her brother-in-law in disappointment. “You can’t keep this up, you know that. You have two kids that are_ depending _on you.” She told him severely, needing to get it through to him. This had been going on far too long._

_“I know, Liz, I know… I just…” John sighed tiredly and hung his head, pulling his hand over his face._

_“Do you think this is what Claudia would have wanted?” Liz ranted on, standing in front of where he sat on the couch. “Do you think my sister would’ve wanted her husband to come home_ drunk _, leaving his kids to fend for themselves?” The exclamation was loud and full of frustration._

_“I’ve really fucked this up, haven’t I?” John asked after a long moment, his voice containing barely restrained emotion as the usually stoic man’s eyes watered slightly. Liz took a deep breath and calmed down, knowing that the whole ordeal was eating him up inside, more so than it would ever do her._

_“You can say that again.” The blonde woman replied resignedly as she sat down heavily next to the closet thing to a sibling she had now. It was so difficult to believe that it had been more than six months since… since Claudia passed._

_Six months since everything had changed for all of them._

_Liz didn’t blame John for how he was acting lately. Not really. He was a good man, she’d always known that, her_ sister _had always known that; he’d just been straying down the wrong path recently. He was grieving the death of the woman he loved most, the person who had been most important to him. But sometimes John forgot the difference between then and now, past and present. As much as it might agonize him to accept, Claudia was_ gone _… and now his focus should be on his kids, his wonderful kids that were in_ pain _because their mom is_ gone _and their dad can’t comfort them._

 _Liz had tried her best to help him out these past months, coming down from Mystic Falls as often as she could, always checking up on him and her niece and nephew. The first two months in particular had been the worst, none of the three Stilinksi’s left had been there at_ all _, mentally at least, each one of them lost in grief. But then, miraculously, they had come back… but John… it was like most of the time he was only there halfway. He was stuck in this rut and he couldn’t get out of it._

_Not on his own, anyways._

_“I just don’t know how to take care of them.” John said helpless, breaking the silence that had been around them. “Stiles, I get, for the most part. But, Caroline… I don’t know how I’m supposed to act around her. She won’t talk to me; the only time she_ _did_ _she said she_ hated _me because I wasn’t there when Claudia… when Claudia…” He trailed off, unable to continue._

_Liz looked at the other cop, considering. “Maybe she just needs some space.” She suggested after a moment, her mind going to the recent conversations she’d had with her husband concerning the children._

_“But_ how _I am supposed to give her that? How am I supposed to do_ any _of that?” John shook his head, frustrated, blood-shot eyes full of desperation and confusion._

_Liz took a deep breath, readying herself for what she was about to propose. She and Bill had been thinking of this for a while now, in their many discussions and arguments about it. It wouldn’t go over well at first, she was sure, but even John himself couldn’t deny it; he needed help._

_So she did the only thing she could, despite her misgivings. She suggested it anyways._

_“Bill and I can take her, we can take Caroline.” Liz said quietly._

_As expected, John immediately exploded. “What? No!” He stood from the couch, no longer seeming miserably hung over and at a loss for what to do._

_“Just hear me out for a second.” Liz raised her hands in a placating manner before gesturing for him to take a seat again. For a moment, she thought John was going to refuse and walk away from this. But, as she should’ve expected, he was a bigger man than that and he conceded, if reluctantly._

_“Caroline has just lost her mother and you don’t know how you can help her. She’s out of control John, and she doesn’t listen to you because some part of her blames you.” Her brother-in-law looked like he was about to argue but Liz only continued, raising her hand again, trying to get him to just_ listen _for a bit. “Now, I’m not saying that blame is right, but she’s just a child, a little nine-year-old girl who doesn’t know how to deal with her anger so she’s taking it out on you.” She placed a hand on his forearm, letting him know that even though he had made some mistakes lately, it really wasn’t his fault. “I think she needs to be around other people, at least for a while, so she can see the perspective; maybe this way she’ll stop connecting her mother’s death to you…” She continued, deciding blunt honesty was the best avenue to take. “Besides, Caroline’s going to need a woman in her life; someone to help her out with the things her mom can’t anymore.”_

 _John sighed heavily, no longer angry but there was grief, and not just for Claudia, clear in his blue eyes; the very same blue eyes that his daughter had inherited. He let his face fall into his hands again, tired of all the hits life kept dealing him. Him and his family._  

_“I can’t separate them, Liz. Stiles and Caroline they need each other.”_

_“I’m not taking her away forever, John, I would_ never _do that to them.” Liz replied immediately, vehement. “But_ you _need to clean up your act, and to do that you’re going to need time to yourself; time that Caroline can’t afford. Do you understand?” Now she looked him in the eye; he needed to pull his head out of the sand, he couldn’t ignore the problems surrounding his children anymore. She knew John always had the best of intentions but sometimes those intentions got pushed aside along the way._

_Liz waited with baited breath to what he would say._

_“I think I do. But how am I supposed to explain this to the kids? What if doing this will make_ Stiles _hate me as well as Caroline?” John explained to her, surprisingly calmly. His previously clouded eyes now held a clear and sharp intelligence, similar to the intelligence she often saw in her niece and nephew._

 _“Stiles_ loves _you, and he’s smarter than people give him credit for; he might not like it but he’ll understand.” She insisted, regardless._

_Her fellow cop and brother-in-law shook his head. “I don’t know if I can do this, Liz.” He admitted gravely, though neither was sure whether he meant taking care of both his kids, or letting one heal elsewhere._

_“Just think about it ok?” Liz finally said, giving in for the moment, but not without giving him a warning first. “But, John, I’ll tell you now, if I find out that anything like this has happened again – I’m going to take_ both _kids.”_

* * *

_“Why can’t Stiles come with me?” Caroline asked again, for the thousandth time, looking up at her aunt with clouded blue eyes. Her pink backpack sat by her sneaker-clad feet, full of things that would keep her occupied for the journey to Mystic Falls._

_“Because, honey, Stiles needs to stay with your dad.” Liz replied patiently, adjusting the lapels of the girls jacket._

_“But, why?” Caroline insisted, her voice getting that edge of frustration when she could simply_ not _understand._

_Liz paused in her movements, meeting her niece’s eyes for a moment, appraisingly. “Your dad… he needs to figure some things out… and so, I think, do you.” She ultimately said. It had been a month since she first suggested her idea to John and since then they’d had many more talks about it, eventually agreeing on waiting and seeing if anything improved in the Stilinski household. Despite John’s efforts, they hadn’t. At least not with Caroline; it was simply too little, too late for the girl and so finally they settled on trying it her way, despite the fact that they were both a bit uncertain about it. “Things haven’t been easy at home, have they?” Liz found herself asking, though she knew the answer well enough._

_“No, I guess not.” Caroline took a moment to think on it before she answered, the girl looking at her with dull eyes, as if she didn’t care anymore. It frankly scared Liz to see such a transformation in a girl who had always been so utterly happy._

_“Well, maybe this is the best way to_ heal _… do you understand?” The older woman suggested, trying not to let her sadness show._

_After a little while, the youngster nodded. “I think so.” She mumbled hesitantly, demonstrating the first tangible emotion she had all day. Liz found herself smiling at the child, feeling that maybe, just maybe this might work._

_“Now, come on, why don’t you say goodbye, ok?” She led her over to the two Stilinski men who had, up until now, been watching the both of them silently. John immediately stepped forward, looking at his daughter in nervousness and no small amount of desolation. He didn’t want to do this, but he saw no other option. At least this way he knew his little girl would be safe. Liz was a capable woman, and not only that, she was a cop like him; point was, he trusted her, enough to trust her, at least temporarily, with the care of his one and only daughter._

_John stared at said daughter for only a moment, before placing a warm hand on her shoulder. He tried not to react at the way she astutely ignored him, instead talking to her as normal. “Caroline, we’ll see you soon, all right darlin’?” He told her quietly, peering into her young face, frowning slightly at the stillness he found there. “You know, uh, your old man’s going to miss you. A lot.” He continued, somewhat awkwardly, waiting for a response but getting none. “Yeah… ok…” He sighed slightly before leaning forward and pressing a firm but gentle kiss to his daughter’s forehead. When he pulled back, he held onto her shoulder just a little longer, not ready to let her go right away._

_And then his fingers slipped from her shoulder and she walked away from him, not even looking back once._

_Her feet carried her to her brother instead, who stood a bit behind their father, watching them with eyes that were far to old for his young face. But when his sister walked up to him, his face split in a smile, trying as always to cheer everyone around him up. “Hey, Care.”_

_“Hey, Stiles…” The young blonde girl replied quietly, playing nervously with her fingers. “I made you something.” The eleven-year-old admitted after a moment, almost shyly, as she shuffled her feet._

_Her brother’s eyes widened in surprise. “You did?”_

_“Yeah, I used that kit thing that Mommy gave me to make it.” Caroline said, her voice tinged with slight sadness before she reached into her pocket and pulled something out, depositing it into Stiles’ waiting hand. He looked down at the object curiously, examining the threaded strings of the bracelet carefully, recognizing it to be one of those friendship bracelets all the girls made nowadays._

_“Oh, um, thanks.” Stiles mumbled, weirdly stupefied about the whole thing. He didn’t expect saying goodbye to be like this, he didn’t expect it to be so… emotional. This wasn’t supposed to be so similar to saying goodbye to his mom. After all, Caroline was coming back. She_ was _. They were all simply taking a break, just for a little while. At least, he hoped that was the case._

_“You don’t think it’s girly and stupid?” Caroline asked him, looking at him hopefully._

_“Nah, Care, I don’t. It’s-it’s great.” Stiles replied, sending her a lopsided smile, before tying the simple threaded thing around his wrist. He held a triumphant fist right in front of her face, waggling it slightly, trying to get at least one last bout of laughter out of her before she had to go. As it was, Caroline only sent him a small, amused smile before her face went serious again._

_And then the next thing he knew, he was being crushed by the tiny blonde girl, her arms encircled around his chest. After Stiles got over his initial surprise, he found himself putting his own arms around her as well, allowing himself the rare opportunity of just holding his little sister._

_“I’ll miss you.” Caroline whispered, her voice cracking as she made her misery known. Her arms tightened around him. Stiles wasn’t sure exactly how long he hugged her and allowed himself to be hugged, but it was much longer than he had ever allowed before. He felt like any second from now, a part of him would go missing, like his arm or leg. His logical mind told him that was simply ridiculous; Caroline was his sister, not a limb, but the twelve-year-old couldn’t shake the feeling either way. So he held tight, not willing just yet to let her go, let another of his loved ones go._

_And then their aunt approached them and touched Caroline on the shoulder, pulling her back a bit. “Come on, Caroline, it’s time to go.” She told her when the girl turned back to look at her._

_The young blonde shook her head furiously, simply hanging on tighter, her mind suddenly panicking at the thought of going somewhere without her brother, her constant companion, her crutch in all things. “No, I don’t want to go, I want to stay with Stiles.” The young girl exclaimed suddenly. “Please? Can I stay with Stiles?” She turned her head to look at the tall woman at their sides, her eyes wide and pleading._

_“Sweetheart, we already talked about this.” Liz replied, trying not to let her niece’s look sway her._

_Blue eyes went from beseeching to determined. “No! You can’t make me go.” Caroline refused sharply, with a harsh shake of her head. Stiles stood helplessly with her, not sure whether he should agree with his sister or with the adults. It seemed that said sister took that decision out of his hands, however, when she suddenly burst towards their father, much to the shock of everyone in the room. She put her skinny arms around the man’s waist and tugged hard at him, as if wanting to somehow shake her decision into him. “Daddy, Daddy! I promise I’ll be good, I swear. I won’t be mean anymore.” She rambled, begging._

_John looked down at his daughter with an utterly pained expression, seemingly on the verge of simply scrapping the whole plan and keeping Caroline with him. But John knew, deep down, that this would only be a temporary solution._

_So he did the hardest thing in his life._

_“Caroline, this…” He trailed off for a moment before steeling his resolve, “this is for your own good.”_

_In that moment he saw Caroline’s heart break in her eyes, and all John could do to comfort himself was convince himself that this lesser heartbreak would help with healing the bigger one. But as of right now, John simply felt like the worst human being and father on earth, watching in silence as the little blonde girl that looked so much like her mother ran to Stiles._

_“No, no, no…” She mumbled until she finally got to him, his name exploding from her mouth. “Stiles!” Caroline exclaimed as she once again tackled him into a hug, this time holding impossibly tighter, hanging on by a mere thread._

_“Care, Care…” Stiles said around the strange thickness in his throat, lightly pushing his sister a bit away from him so she standing right in front of him and actually looking up at him. “It’s ok.” He said with some difficulty, knowing he had to be the strong one in this. “Christmas isn’t far away… And we’re going to the lake house next summer again, remember?” The mention of the summer home that had once belonged to their mother and her sister seemed to brighten the young preteen up, even if only slightly. The house, located only a few hours away from their mom’s childhood home of Mystic Falls had always been a happy place for the siblings. The fact that Stiles was telling her about it like it was absolutely sure that they would be going there this year gave Caroline some hope._

_But not so much that she was ready to let go just yet. “Stiles…” She whispered, with a small shake of her head, still rejecting this big plan._

_“We gotta listen to Dad and Aunt Liz; they’re the grownups, they know what they’re doing.” Her brother told her, for once completely serious. It was a rare sight to see Stiles like this and it was sign to Caroline that it was probably best to follow his advice._

_Regardless, she could not stop the tears that sprung into her eyes. “I don’t want to go.” She whispered so quietly that even he could barely hear her, despite standing mere inches from her._

_“I don’t want you to go, either, Care. But it won’t be for long, you’ll see.” Stiles tried for a smile, though he only felt emptiness inside._

_“Promise?” She looked up at him with trusting eyes._

_Stiles nodded. “Promise.”_

_It was the only promise that Stiles ever broke._

* * *

_Stiles Stilinski did not have much coordination; anyone around him knew that. So when his sister watched him attempt to show off by doing some sort of jump-flip thing on the long wooden dock of the lake, she knew it would go wrong. And go wrong it did. Instead of being a ninja move like Stiles had hoped it would be, he ended up falling flat on his face. Literally. Caroline only rolled her eyes when Stiles let out a pathetic-sounding groan, his tendency to over-dramatize these things always getting the better of him._

_Honestly, how had she_ ever _believed that_ this _guy knew everything?_

 _“You’re such an idiot, Stiles.” The fifteen-year-old girl said, a fond smile on her face despite her slight annoyance at the whole thing. You could say a lot about her fool of a brother, but he was never not entertaining. At least that hadn’t changed since she last saw him. Unlike his ungodly haircut. Seriously, why the hell would he just cut it all off? Caroline blamed it on the lack of female influence in his daily life, because if she had been back home at the time, she would never have let that…_ atrocity _happen._

 _It had been more four years since Caroline had moved in with her aunt in Mystic Falls, which was about three years longer than it originally was going to be. Her ‘temporary’ arrangement just seemed to stretch longer and longer. The first year, Caroline had wanted nothing more than to go home; she’d hated everything about her new life, down to the smallest details. But then she began to get over her anger and she began to adjust to her life, even starting to have some fun. But even though her anger at the world had faded, her anger at her father had not. Rationally, she knew he’d only wanted what was best for her and for Stiles but she doesn’t know if she’ll ever be able to fully forgive him for just sending he_ away _like that. It was because of that, that when she did get better, she still found herself staying in Mystic Falls anyways._

_Her only regret because of this decision was the fact that she was still separated from Stiles. Sure, she saw him every holiday season and every summer but it wasn’t the same. They weren’t the same. They didn’t get much time together and even when they did, most of the time it was like there was a heavy cloud of tension over them, just waiting to burst. Even being here at the lake house it was difficult._

_“No I’m not; take it back.” Stiles called out, his indignant tone cutting through her somewhat melancholic thoughts._

_The younger Stilinski shook her head slightly as returned to the present. “Nu uh, no way.” Caroline denied, deciding to revert back to a six-year-old and stick her tongue out at him._

_“Great, first time I see my little sister in months and she’s already making fun of me.” He whined, coming to sit by her on the side of the dock._

_“What can I say? It’s a talent.” The blonde replied with smirk before the two fell into a peaceful silence._

_A silence which, of course, did not last. “Hey, Care, can I ask you something?” Stiles spoke up abruptly, looking at her curiously._

_Caroline sighed, wanting to enjoy the restfulness of the afternoon a bit longer but knowing Stiles wouldn’t stop prodding her until she talked to him. “What’s up?”_

_“Why won’t you just_ talk _to him?”_

_And just like that, with one question, all hopes of a possible further peaceful afternoon were shattered._

_“You_ know _why.” Caroline turned to face him with a glare, arms crossed, signaling that she really didn’t want to talk about this right now._

_But Stiles wasn’t having any of it. “He’s our dad! You can’t just keep ignoring him and acting like he doesn’t exist!” He exclaimed, fed up with ever expanding rift between the father and daughter. Though there was ever-growing distance between the siblings too, it was nothing compared to John and Caroline’s relationship. Stiles knew they loved each other, but ever since Caroline left it was like she refused to even try anymore with their dad. At all. She had a right to be angry, that was true, but he just wished that his family could be together again, could be at least somewhat normal._

_“Yes, I can.” His sister told him now, basically confirming all of his worst thoughts on the whole situation as the blonde rose to her feet and stalked off, just like he thought she might. Caroline really didn’t like to face such personal problems face-to-face, but Stiles was going to make her do it anyways._

_“Caroline!” He shouted, scrambling after her._

_Caroline turned abruptly back around. “_ What _? What do you want me to say, Stiles?_ He _sent_ me _away, not the other way around.” She exclaimed, annoyed and frustrated and utterly drained of energy from all the fighting and arguing lately._

 _“Well maybe if you two, I don’t know,_ talked _it out, you could come back!” Her brother accused loudly._

 _“Who says I_ want _to come back?” Caroline burst out, immediately silencing Stiles, who looked at her in disbelief. The younger Stilinski regretted her words almost directly thereafter. She wasn’t supposed to tell him like this or, you know, ever. She couldn’t stand the hurt that she saw in his eyes now._

_After a few long and painfully silent moments, he spoke up again, his face holding a vulnerable and crestfallen expression. “You don’t mean that.” He stated, not even phrasing it as a question because he simply did not want to believe that she really meant that._

_“Stiles.” His little sister said, at a loss but not agreeing with his statement either._

_He held up a hand, the other pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to alleviate some of the sudden headache he had. “No, Caroline, just no. Stop, ok?” He just needed a minute, minute to process what was happening around him._

_“Ok.” She conceded, wanting nothing more than to end this stupid argument. She really hadn’t meant to tell him like_ that.

_“Do you… do you really not want to come back?” Her brother asked again after a short while, still looking gob smacked at the idea she really might not want to come home._

_Caroline struggled to explain. “I don’t know, Stiles, it’s just… I like my life in Mystic Falls now, I have good friends, I’m doing well in school. I’m the freaking cheer captain!” It was true; despite the harsh first year she’d had living with her aunt, soon after she’d blossomed. She was much healthier now, not filled with all the anger as she had been before. Her friends were supportive, she was involved in every aspect of the community… Heck, she’d even skipped a grade because she’d once again been able to concentrate on school. But back home… Caroline met Stiles’ eyes, knowing she had to say it though it would likely hurt him. “And in Beacon Hills… all I have is pain and bad memories.” She said quietly, sadly. For so long she’d wanted to go back but now only the thought of it made her hurt._

_“You have me.” Stiles replied seriously, the undertone of his voice betraying his unhappiness and disappointment._

_But his answer made Caroline smile._ That’s so Stiles, always thinking of others. _“Yeah, I know.” She squeezed his forearm for a moment, letting him know that it wasn’t because of him that she didn't want to go back, at least not yet._

 _“But, you still won’t come home. Because of Dad.” Her silence was enough of an answer for him. “God! You two are so_ stubborn _!” Stiles threw up his hands in brief frustration before taking a calming breath. He turned to her again a moment later. “Ok, whatever, let’s just change the subject. I actually want to enjoy the little time I have with my sister.” He suggested, now with only a slight hint of his former frustration._

_Caroline’s previously serious face cracked up into a teasing grin at his comment, finding this to be the perfect opportunity to lighten the mood. “Aww, aren’t you just adorable?” She said mockingly as she reached up and ruffled his nonexistent hair just to get on his nerves, as any good sister should._

_“Will you quit it?” Stiles huffed, pushing her away and patting his head with a pout. Once he was finished ‘grooming himself’ (though how he took_ that _long to do so when the guy didn’t even own a comb, Caroline had no idea) he turned to her again. “I’m a very manly man.” He stated in a matter-of-fact way before pointing to her. “Ok, repeat after me, Stiles is a very manly man.” He enunciated each syllable, talking to her as if she were a two-year-old, wagging his finger._

_Caroline just rolled her eyes. “Like I said; idiot.”_

_For a moment Stiles looked indignant and offended until a very familiar mischievous light entered his eyes. That, of course was never a good sign, so when Stiles started towards her in determination, Caroline immediately backed up, bare feet brushing against the wood of the dock until she realized she was heading the wrong way. Instead of heading away from the water like she’d wanted, she found herself being pushed towards it._

_Suddenly she understood Stiles’ plan._

_“Stiles, what are you doing? No, no don’t you dare!” She demanded as she tried to get around him only to realize she was at the very end of the dock, which was very,_ very _bad place to be in her current predicament. Just as this popped in her head, Stiles reached over triumphantly and shoved Caroline into the freezing lake water. To her dismay, she let out a loud scream before she hit the water with an even louder splash. She rose up only moments later with a gasp and revenge already on her mind when she heard Stiles’ loud guffaws of laughter._

 _Caroline rose out of the water quickly, a woman on a mission. Her clothes were completely soaked through and dripping onto the wooden boards of the dock when she finally got back to her feet, but the ridiculous of that image was diminished by the killer glare she wore. “You are_ so _dead, Stiles!” The blonde threatened dangerously._

_“Everyone run for your lives, rabid teenage girl alert!” Her brother shouted, cackling, before he realized just how serious Caroline had been in her statement._

_Stiles didn’t waste another moment and ran as fast as he could, wanting to live to see another day._

_But, as always, Stiles wasn’t particularly coordinated and Caroline was more determined than ever._

_It was an easy win. On her part._

* * *

_Caroline woke up groggily; her eyes were much heavier than they usually were in the morning but still she managed to wake herself up… Only to find that she was in a completely white room, sterile. And then it hit her;_ hospital _. Immediately Caroline shot up in the bed; she, of course, regretted this decision soon after as dizziness worked its way through her system. Still, you couldn’t blame her for reacting the way she did; there was nothing that Caroline hated more than hospitals. All they held for her were bad memories._

_Even so, the blonde knew she had to calm down; she needed to figure out what was going on. As she settled cautiously back, she took catalogue of herself, noting that she didn’t really feel any pain, in fact, other than the faint fogginess in her head, she felt completely fine. That was odd she knew, especially considering she was in an accident. Suddenly flashes of what had happened sprung to the forethoughts in her mind._

Matt… Tyler… The crash…

Great, _Caroline thoughts were filled with sarcasm,_ I was in a car accident. Just fantastic.

 _Well, at least the blonde could be relieved that it seemed to be nothing serious, considering the fact that she wasn’t even in the ICU. Still, she really needed to have a talk with Tyler about appropriate driving behavior. As she contemplated just how she would go about this plan of revenge and justice, the door to her room flew open with loud_ bang _, causing her to nearly flop of her very uncomfortable bed in shock._

_Of course, who she saw standing in the doorway shocked her ever more._

_“Stiles? What are you doing here?” Caroline asked, bewildered at the fact that it was her older brother that was with her right now in what she assumed to Mystic Falls’ local hospital. He looked exactly the same as the last time she’d seen him, a few months ago. Same plaid, same big eyes, same buzz cut._

_Different expression though. Last time it had been teasing, now it was only worried._

_“Care, oh thank god you’re ok.” Stiles continued into the room taking a barely a pause as he rushed over to her and hugged her tightly. Caroline almost couldn’t put her own arms around him with how he was crushing her. She patted his back rather awkwardly, trying to catch a breath. Her brother seemed to finally realize what he was doing and abruptly pulled back, almost tripping over his own feet in the process._

_As usual, Caroline gave him a moment to collect himself. “Yeah, I’m fine. Now are you going to answer my question?” She replied firmly, not wanting to show that any of this had affected her. Stiles didn’t need to worry anymore than he already was about her; so what she’d been out of her mind scared when the car swerved? She could deal with it on her own, she had been doing fine these past few years with it after all._

_“You were in a car crash, of course I’m here.” Stiles replied, incredulous, looking at her as if it were blasphemous that he_ wouldn’t _be here. “We both are.” He added for good measure, taking a seat in the chair by her bed now that he had calmed down from his initial relief and joy somewhat. God, the panic and fear he’d felt when they’d gotten the call… Stiles was sure he wouldn’t be able to get rid of this feeling for a while yet, not this feeling of being helpless._

_Caroline froze at this, her surprised joy taking a pause. “You mean Dad?_

_“No I mean Santa Claus.” Stiles replied immediately with a dead pan; the younger of the Stilinski siblings only looked at him with an unamused expression. Sometimes Caroline just wished Stiles would_ stay _serious._

_Stiles spotted the irritated expression on his sister’s face and decided it was probably best to change his tactics if he wanted to get through to her. “He’s really worried about you, you know. He wants to see you.” He said after a moment, looking at her hopefully. He really didn’t want to have another argument about this whole thing, not now. Not when she had just been so hurt._

_It seemed that Caroline, for once, following his line of thinking. “Ok.” She replied simply._

_“Ok? You’re serious?” Stiles exclaimed, shocked at how_ easy _that had been. A huge, genuine smile spread on his face. Just minutes ago he’d been sick out of his mind with worry, thinking of all the worst cases but here they were and he was probably getting the best possible outcome from this whole ordeal… he didn’t know what to think. “Great, great! I’ll just go get him, over there, outside your room… yeah, ok.” Stiles stumbled over his words, a little flustered. It had been a while since he’d been taken so off guard._

 _He ran out of the room quickly and Caroline watched him go. His shock at her reaction was expected in all honesty as, even Caroline had to admit herself, she was normally very stubborn. Especially about this. But she’d had a hard and long week and could have lost her life today. She didn’t want to go without at least having one conversation with her dad that didn’t end in an argument. Even if she didn't forgive him, she still loved him. He was her_ dad _, and the only parent she had left and Caroline felt a sudden, small bout of regret that she been so tough on him all of these years._

_“Caroline.” The sheriff of Beacon Hills’ gruff and familiar voice filtered through her brain and when she looked up from her hands, there he was, watching her with tears in his eyes. It was that expression on his face, that expression of unconditional, paternal love that brought emotion clogging up in her throat and was to blame for her next words._

_“Hey Daddy.”_

_In the next instant, her dad’s arms had encircled her and pulled her into his comforting chest. Caroline was surprised to find that she was crying, her emotions going haywire with all that had happened. And yet, even more surprisingly, she found that she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she was showing weakness, she didn’t care that she was supposed to be mad at her dad, she just didn’t care because all she wanted right now was her_ parent _._

 _And in that moment Caroline found herself thinking that everything might be ok again. That maybe, just maybe she was on the path of finally letting go of_ all _of her anger. She was sure the arguments between her and her dad weren’t over, that was true, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t finally mend their relationship. Because now both parties were more than willing to try. Because she was moving on._

_At least, that was what she had thought… until only a day later her dad and Stiles left again; the sheriff needed back in Beacon Hills immediately because of a body that had been found mutilated. Until only a few hours after they said goodbye, she was murdered by the exact replica of her best friend._

_Until she was suddenly turned into a vampire, a creature she hadn’t even known existed until then._

_And when she learned the dangers that came with this new world that Caroline found herself thrown in, she vowed never to put her family in that danger._

_Even if that meant breaking the fragile connection that just formed between them and avoiding them._

_Even if it meant her own happiness._

* * *

At first Stiles thought that only pack members and other werewolves were being tormented. And Stiles' thoughts and theories were very often correct. It made sense, well what qualified for sense in his crazy world, that whatever was haunting the Glen Capri would primarily target the supernatural creatures on its premises. But then he started to hear it, that voice... It was so familiar, so very familiar. Like a memory from a long time ago, the whispered voice of a young girl he once knew...

The first time he heard it was when he was when he had joined Lydia and Allison after he received Lydia’s text about all the suicides that had happened over the years in this very motel. He'd dismissed it immediately, not willing to admit to himself that whatever was happening to their wolfy friends might be happening to him too. That would be too much for them all.

Unfortunately he couldn't delude himself anymore when he started to understand what exactly the voice was saying and when he realized just _whose_ voice it actually was.

 _'Stiles...'_ His sister's nine-year-old voice called out. _'Let's play, Stiles...'_ He tried to shake it off but the voice only seemed to come closer and closer, creeping up on him and unable to be pushed away. As the voice continued torment him, his mind shifted to the sister that he hadn't seen in almost a year. _Caroline…_ _I have to keep her away from here, have to keep her safe from all of this..._

Stiles had to almost physically shake himself out of it; he really didn't need this right now, not when his friends were depending on him to help. He needed to stay aware. _Come on, Stilinksi! Keep it together, now's not the time to go completely nuts, especially not insane-asylum ‘I’m gonna scratch my face off’ nuts!_

For once it seemed fate would be kind to him when he finally managed to push the voice to the back of his mind, refocusing on the conversation he was supposed to be having with the girls. Only a few minutes later though he found himself pulled, yet again, out of that conversation and instead saving the life of Ethan. Ethan, one of the freaking _Alpha twins_ , that were basically making everyone's lives miserable. However, despite Stiles’ many misgivings about the situation, it seemed that this proved to be a good distraction for his mind, as he didn't hear from the voice at all whilst he was doing so.

Of course, it didn't last for long because as soon as it was done, and Ethan hightailed the hell away from them, it came right back. He tried to get away from it by talking to Lydia, telling her about his theory of who might be involved in this haunting of sorts, but it seemed even his long-time crush couldn't help him with providing a distraction; so when she fell to her knees by a drain, rambling about a mother and her baby and _drowning,_ all _he_ could hear was that voice, that voice that he knew so painfully well.

 _'It’s your fault, Stiles…'_ It hissed venomously, now changing to present-day Caroline's voice but sounding nothing like the sister he knew and loved. ' _How could you send me away?'_ It started yelling now, screaming at him in fury.  _'You were supposed to protect us, but you couldn't even do that! You let Mom die and you've caused Dad nothing but trouble!'_ Stiles felt his vision blur as he tried to scramble for footing, something to hold him down to the real world.

"Stop," he muttered, clutching at his head, his fingers threading tightly through his hair. "Stop." He knew what was happening, rationally he knew what he was hearing wasn't real but he just couldn't seem to get away from it. It was like it was feeding off of all his insecurities and fears and no matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to just stop thinking there was at least some inkling of truth to them. 

_'It's your fault, it's all your fault.'_

Through his blurry eyes, he saw something, something that definitely was _not_ supposed to be here in the middle of motel hell. The blonde figure wandered toward him, barely there but visible all the same. Stiles let out a sudden shuddered gasp, frantically shaking his head when he realized what this was. That figure…. It was _Caroline_ , but Stiles was sure there was something horribly and utterly wrong with her.

 _'It’s your fault I’m a monster.'_ She, no, _it_ said now, oddly calm. And then Stiles saw it, his sister's normally beautiful face turning into an unnatural thing. Cruel red eyes stared out at him apathetically, but they weren't the Alpha red he was relatively used to seeing, no these eyes bulging, filled with what Stiles knew must be blood. There was blood around her mouth too, staining the porcelain skin there, marking the deadly looking fangs that protruded from her lips. And she was holding something long and sharp in her hands, lifting it slowly until it was over her heart, the point of dagger-like thing pressed to her chest, drawing even more blood.

“No.” Stiles found himself exclaiming, his heart beating faster and faster as he stared at this cruel and unforgiving version of his little sister. “Oh God no, _Caroline_!” He fell to his knees, shaking his head in a futile attempt to disperse the images, his hands almost clawing at his face; he did not want to see his sister _kill_ herself, no matter what version of her this was. But then Stiles was vaguely aware of another pair of hands covering his own, as he continued to be trapped in his own mind. . _Please, please, please not again… I can’t watch this again… I can’t see another person I love die… please… please…_

And then came the stinging pain in his cheek and suddenly Stiles saw a different face from Caroline’s in front of him. “Stiles! Stiles! Snap out of it!” Lydia was shouting at him, shaking him with all the power her tiny frame could muster.

“What? Lydia?” Stiles wondered out loud, momentarily at a loss as he was brought crashing back to reality. His hand was now rubbing his stinging cheek, realizing that Lydia must have literally slapped him out of it, the hands that had been on his now moving to his shoulders, keeping him grounded. Stiles’ heart was still thundering in his chest but luckily his mind was clear, at least for the moment. 

“Oh, thank god.” The strawberry blonde on the floor in front of him exhaled. “Why didn’t you tell me it was happening to you too?” She berated him barely a second later despite the panic still clear in her expression.

“I-I, uh…” Stiles stumbled over his words, trailing off. For once he didn’t really have an answer. _How do I explain that I don’t want people to know what I see in my nightmares?_

Either way, it seemed that the girl in front of him didn’t have time for an answer. “You know what, forget it, I think someone’s drowning, and we have to go _now_.” Lydia changed the subject as she quickly got back to her feet, fear in her voice and desperation in her green eyes. “Do you think you can keep it together?” She asked him hurriedly as he joined her standing, needing him to say yes to this. They really couldn’t lose another player to whatever this _thing_ was.

Stiles nodded, his head still spinning and feeling like it had been spit in half, but knowing that now was not the time for rest. They had work to do. “Yeah, come on.” He said and immediately Lydia ran off faster than he thought she would be able to, considering her short stature, carried by her impossible instincts. Stiles didn’t hesitate a second to follow her, already seeing where she was going.

Luckily, they ended up managing to make it time to save Boyd from drowning himself. And then they saved Isaac too and all the while Stiles had to keep pushing that little traitorous voice back, had to focus as much as his scattered brain could on the _here_ and _now._ But when he had to save Scott, the closest thing he had to a brother, he couldn’t ignore Caroline’s voice anymore. And so he found himself considering joining in on Scott’s insane plan. But somehow he managed to convince himself that he _shouldn’t_ do it, that the _real_ Caroline was probably out there somewhere, having fun with her friends, a _normal_ teenage girl.

So he saved them both instead. And he let his mind calm down, putting all thoughts of monsters and sisters away. He decided not to think on the feeling of foreboding he’d had when he the saw the image of his sister. He did not think of the fact that it hadn’t been her fangs that horrified him but rather the eyes, the _deadness_ of them, and the fact that she’d been ready to _end_ herself. And he definitely did not think about the fact that he’d been the only human in the group to be affected by the thing that had attacked them…

Later, however, _later_ he and Lydia would wonder why he was affected too and how he was able to snap out of it with just a slap rather than fire; they would even spitball a few theories but get nowhere in the end.

And later Stiles would realize that the thing that that distorted image of Caroline had been holding, the tool she had chosen to bring about her own demise, was a _stake_. And he would realize that this was important, that it had meaning to it.

Later, Stiles would decide that there was only one thing to do, only one way to make sure that what he had seen would not happen. 

He needed to see his sister, he needed to see Caroline.

But later. Only later.

 


	2. Here We Stand

"Since when does Caroline have a brother?" Damon asked, his usual dryness firmly in place. Stefan looked as curious as he was from where he was standing next to his own brother. Elena and Bonnie on the other hand, seemed to know a  _lot_  more than them.

Damon watched as the blonde vampire flitted around the Salvatore house, collecting the necessities for what appeared to be some sort of trip she decided to take; where or why she didn't say. She had barely said anything to him when she had arrived earlier either, only making her 'requests' known; Damon  _had_  thought that to make a  _request_ , one would have to  _ask_  not  _command_ … Either way, he had the feeling he wouldn't have been able to stop her.

If he had been anything other than a vampire, having a teenage girl at your front door demanding that she be allowed to take some stakes and blood bags might seem more than a little weird, as it was however…

Still, even by his standards this was abnormal behavior, especially considering the way she was muttering to herself. It wasn't a secret that Damon and Caroline were not big fans of one another, but even he had to admit it was  _slightly_  worrying.

He'd been about to ask, with as much sarcasm as possible of course, what the hell Caroline thought she was doing when her two best friends, Elena and Ms. Witchy-Powers, also walked in. Apparently Blondie was having some sort of crisis and needed the rest of her little posse. Damon was all set for ignoring the situation and just leaving them to it when he heard the word  _brother_.

Now that,  _that_  was unusual enough for his attention. How did he not  _know_? This was Caroline! She wasn't exactly the most multi-layered person in the world…. Was she?

Regardless, the girl had simply ignored the commotion going on around her and stayed focused on her task, seemingly in a trance of some sort. It was during that time that Damon had managed to needle the information he needed from the rest. Well  _most_  of it anyways. Yes, he'd learned that Caroline's little breakdown was due to Silas tormenting and threatening her (though  _how_  they weren't sure); and yes he now knew that the blonde had been this off-her-rocker ever since it happened a couple days ago, barely giving herself a moment to check on her aunt or explaining (at the bare minimum) what had happened to her friends before going about her 'mission'.

But what he still would not get answers on was  _who_  and  _where_  this  _brother_ came from, and  _how_  exactly he played into this whole ordeal. And Damon  _hated_  not knowing something.

"Since forever." Damon was finally pulled out of his thoughts by Elena's voice when she deemed to give him an answer. He looked back down at the girl, raising a brow, because _hello_  what kind of an answer was that? Crossing his arms, he made his irritation obvious.

"Well why haven't we met him then? I think I would have noticed a carbon copy of Blondie walking around." The elder Salvatore snarked.

"He doesn't live here. He lives with their dad in California." The brunette explained, slightly impatient as she did so. She clearly didn't like being stuck on the sidelines like she was right now, helplessly watching her friend go through all this pain. Her compassionate brown eyes lay heavily on Caroline, watching as she blurred here and there, clearly overwhelmed and not knowing what she should do first. She was about to intervene and ask if there was  _any_  way she could help when Damon spoke again.

"Wait? What? So now a brother and a father? How many family members is she hiding? How didn't I know about this?" He asked, shocked and very obviously annoyed at his lack of information.

Elena frowned. "She barely ever talks about them. And when she does she gets this look on her face…" She trailed off, unsure how to describe it. The closest thing she could think of was  _devastated_.

"It's not surprising she didn't tell you; I didn't know until two years ago." Bonnie put in, speaking for the first time as she saw the other brunette's struggles. The witch shrugged at the two brothers' incredulous expressions, Stefan looking concerned where Damon looked annoyed.

"I thought you guys knew each other since the sandbox?" He asked mockingly. The Bennet witch was about to reply with a biting remark when her friend intervened this time, wanting to avoid another confrontation between the other two.

"Bonnie and I have. Caroline only moved here when we were eleven." Elena explained, keeping her voice low as a reminder to the others to do the same. The last thing Caroline needed right now was to hear her friends arguing over  _her_.

"What happened? Why did she leave her family?" Stefan asked after a little while, his eyes, which had been firmly locked on the blonde vampire ever since she arrived at his house, finally shifting away from her and to the others.

Elena smiled sadly, giving him a small shake of her head. "That's not our story to tell." She insisted, her gaze firmly on that of her ex's, telling him that there was no way she would betray Caroline's secrets. Stefan, being who he was, immediately understood and accepted it, nodding before turning to face the blonde again, concern apparent through all his features.

Damon on the other hand was not so quick to accept it…

"Huh."

"What?" Bonnie hissed with an exaggerated eye roll.

"Who knew our resident Barbie was so complex?" Damon couldn't help commenting, the little dig at Caroline grating on everyone's nerves immediately.

"Give her a break, Damon, Caroline's been through a lot more than either of you know." Elena spoke up, also sparing a glance for Stefan. Bonnie nodded at her side, still glaring daggers at the elder of the brothers.

"Is she going to be ok?" The younger asked now.

"I hope so, Stefan, but we really don't know. We've never seen her like this." Elena replied, sighing lightly. This whole thing was just so incredibly  _not_ -Caroline that none of them were sure how they should react.

Bonnie nodded again. "The only time she's come close was when she was turned… But if  _this_  has her more panicked than  _that_ , it must be really serious."

The four companions fell into silence, each of them with a lot on their minds. Of course, the silence didn't last long when they heard Caroline's mutters turn into a shouted curse, the smell of blood filtering through to the other vampires' noses soon thereafter. Immediately all eyes zoomed in on her.

" _Shit!_ " The blonde said again, holding her now bleeding hand, the stake she had nicked it with rolling on the floor. She looked so heartbreakingly desperate as she went back to her muttering."Come on, keep it together. He needs me." Blue eyes filled with unshed tears, causing Elena to suddenly move forward, wanting to help her friend.

She grabbed the blonde's forearms, peering into her blue eyes. "Caroline! Calm down!" She said urgently, trying to get through to her. "What's going on? And why do you keep talking about your brother?" She questioned, her voice worried. "Silas threatened you, we know that, but you have to tell us  _how_. Maybe we can  _help_  you."

For the first time since they all got together, words actually seemed to register with Caroline. She blinked at her friend, stopping with her muttering. Panic seemed to drain away, replaced with a steely determination, from one vampirically heightened emotion to another. Gently, but firmly, she put her hands on her friends and pushed them away. "Look, I don't have time right now Elena, I have to go home, ok? I'll tell you later." She said, promise in her voice.

Elena refused to back down, recognizing the lost look in the blonde's eyes. "Care. Stop. Like I said, we can help you but you  _have_  to tell us what's going on." She whispered with a searching gaze.

"Silas." Caroline spat out, barely able to speak as her thoughts went back to that moment from a few days before, that  _horrible_  moment. "He showed up looking for Bonnie…" The Bennet witch took a shuddering breath at this, feeling a well of guilt building in her stomach. None of the others took notice of this, however, focused on the blonde vampire as they were. "He didn'tthreaten  _me_ , ok?" She whispered shakily,  _brokenly_. "H-He threatened  _Stiles_."

Damon's brow furrowed, incredulously mouthing that strange name to his brother. ' _Stiles_?' To which Stefan only replied with a confused shrug. Their attention soon returned to Caroline, though, when she managed to continue speaking.

"My dad too. I can't, I can't just  _let_  him do that stuff. I need to be there." She finished in a rush, bordering on loosing control of her fragile emotions.

Elena raised a hand to her mouth, sickened by Silas' actions. "Oh my god, I am so sorry." She said sincerely, squeezing her friends hand.

Caroline seemed to get back to herself, her gaze once again hardening in determination. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I put them in this mess and I'm going to get them out. I'll call you, ok?"

Without another word, the vampire blurred away as fast as she could, not even sparing them a second glance. Had any of them been human at this point, they might've needed to take a few moments to readjust to the blonde's sudden departure. As it was, however, none of them were human, so they reacted immediately.

"Care!" Elena instantly shouted after her, readying to follow her only to be stopped by a hand on her arm. She looked up questioningly at Stefan, he inclined his head slightly to the side, letting her know that she shouldn't do what she had been about to.

"I'll go after her." He told her instead. Elena looked up at him for a moment longer, before begrudgingly nodding in consent. As much as she hated to admit it, Caroline didn't need  _her_  right now. Elena and she had too much of a history, too much rivalry and pain caused in the past.

No, it had best be Stefan. After all, the younger Salvatore had acted as mentor to Caroline in recent times, had helped her most when she needed it.

So Elena stood back with Bonnie and Damon, and watched Stefan chase after Caroline in sadness.

* * *

Caroline ran through her bedroom, packing everything she could possibly need into her tasteful floral patterned suitcase. She hid the stakes carefully among her clothes, knowing she might need them.  _You can never be too careful._ Caroline hadn't been back to Beacon Hills since she'd turned, but now that she knew about the supernatural, she also knew that it was very possible for there to be some foul creature waiting for her in her hometown. And now that she was capable of protecting herself and others against it, she wasn't going to let herself get caught off guard.

The blonde blurred around her room, wanting to get finished packing as quickly as she could. Her normally meticulous room was pulled upside down and inside out by the time she managed to find everything she needed. Luckily, it didn't take very long, thanks to her vampire speed, and soon enough she was just putting away the last things needed; the blood bags she'd pilfered from the Salvatores. Taking out the small freezer box she kept close at hand, she filled it to the brim, packing the blood away as tightly as she could.  _Don't know how long I'll be staying, after all_.

Just as she was closing the box, she heard the telltale  _whoosh_  that signaled the arrival of another vampire. She didn't turn around, already knowing who it must be.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about your brother?" Stefan asked almost immediately, not bothering with any small talk.  _To the point, that's Stef._

Caroline simply shrugged, trying to keep the calm she'd just managed to reacquire. "It never came up."

Stefan came to stand in front of her on the other side of the bed where her now full suitcase lay, his eyes bore into her forehead, willing her to meet his gaze. Finally, she sighed and looked up at him, knowing she couldn't pretend to keep closing an already closed freezer box.  _I'll just have to get this over with. The sooner I do this, the sooner I get to Stiles and my dad._

"So… all the times I was complaining about my idiot of a brother, you couldn't segue into a conversation about your own?" Stefan asked now that he had her full attention.

She shrugged again. "I just don't like to talk about it."  _We all have our family problems around here; Stefan and Damon don't exactly have an amazing relationship, Elena and Jeremy have lost nearly everyone, Bonnie and her parents have their fair share of issues… Don't even get me started on Klaus and his wacked up siblings…_

Despite the truth in Caroline's thoughts, Stefan was unwilling to just let it lie. The younger Salvatore only wanted to help, she knew, but the blonde really would rather not have to think about all that had happened to her and her family. "Why not, Caroline?" He asked her gently.

The blonde's big blue eyes shifted away from her friend as she sat heavily on the bed, her mind going back to all those memories, those painful, horrible memories. "I… I love Stiles, I do…" She whispered, shocking herself as she realized she was  _actually_  going to give Stefan what he wanted and tell her story. "He may be a big sarcastic dork but he's still my brother… and after our mom died, he was all I had. I mean, yeah, my dad was there, but he was so caught up in his grief… not that I can really blame him for it. But Stiles?" She looked up to her friend and mentor now, a prideful, and extremely grateful, gleam in her eye as she continued talking. "He did  _everything_  for me. We were both so young when it happened but he  _still_  put everything else before himself, especially me…" Caroline swallowed harshly as the emotion caught up with her. "He was the only reason I made it through those first few months relatively intact." She admitted quietly. "He took care of me… and I repaid him by acting out and making everyone's lives more miserable. I was just a kid; I couldn't help it!" The softly spoken words were quickly turning into a whirlwind of shouts. "But my dad, he couldn't find a way to get me to stop. I was just so  _angry_  all the time and all of that anger shifted to my dad. So he did the only thing he could and he sent me with Liz, to get some distance."

Caroline looked away again, needing a moment to collect herself. Her hands rubbed her tired face before she moved them in front of her nose and mouth, folding them together in frustration. This story only brought up bad memories for her; oh of course she'd had some good moments during that time as well… but they were all over shadowed by the not so good.

_Just finish the story, Caroline, finish it and you can move on, go back and do what needs to be done._

She felt Stefan place a hand on one of her shoulders, warm and comforting. Taking a deep a breath, she looked at him again, nodding to let him know she was ok to go on. He nodded back, sent her a small smile, and sat back ready to listen.

"But, my dad also took me away from Stiles in doing that, the one constant I had in my life at that point… so I only get angrier." Caroline explained quietly. She paused again, shaking her head slightly in shame.

"I'm sorry. Really I am." Stefan told her. The blonde quirked a half smile at her friend, thanking him for the sentiment.

"Things were finally getting better last year though, I was growing up, actually, learning to  _forgive_." She said quickly, brightening minutely; it dimmed only a moment later. "But then…" She gestured to herself, her _vampire_  self, "then  _this_  happened and I knew, I  _knew_  that I just couldn't tell them about this, or be near them. The last thing I have ever wanted was to put my family in danger, especially after my mom…" Caroline swallowed harshly again, tears working their way into her eyes. Her throat tightened, sight blurring.  _I'm poison now. Or maybe I always was, I don't know._  "And now, they're in danger anyways. And it's all  _my_  fault." She gasped silently, trying desperately to keep her pain in.

"Caroline, you can't blame yourself." Stefan squeezed her shoulder again, his voice sympathetic. The blonde sniffed, blinking the tears away after a moment.

"I know that. I do."  _Don't I?_ "But…" She hesitated a mere second before the words exploded from her mouth. "It's just, Stiles, I miss him  _so_  much and it  _hurt_ that I knew I couldn't see him anymore. I wanted to protect him, keep him and my dad away from all this danger. But he's  _still_  in it! Because of me!" She exclaimed loudly, hands clenching into tight fists. She looked to Stefan, gaze now containing nothing but strong determination. "I have to fix it."  _I_ will _fix it._

The younger Salvatore looked at her appraisingly, almost prideful. "Wow, I didn't-uh realize." He said honestly, letting out a breath.

"Not many people do." Caroline smiled. It was true; not many people looked beneath the ditzy cheerleader façade she often wore, not even her friends.  _It's because I_ chose _not to show them this side._  "Like I said it's not something I talk about a lot."

Stefan nodded, accepting this just as she knew he would. "You know, Care, if you  _do_  need to talk… I'll be right here." He offered, completely genuine and sincere as he did so.

Caroline smiled again, grateful for his help. "I know, Stef, I know. Thank you." She stood up, turning to her desk to pick up the handbag she was planning on taking with her. "Look, I'm going to get back to it, ok? I don't know how much time I have for all this but I do know I have to hurry." She explained, trying not to make it sound to rude.  _I just need some time alone._

"Do you want one of us to come with you? As back up, maybe?" Stefan asked, joining her.

Caroline shook her head. "No, no… I think I need to do this on my  _own_." She gave him a meaningful look and the other vampire nodded, immediately understanding. The blonde turned away from him again, satisfied, and rifled through some papers she had on her desk, taking what she might need with her.

"Ok, fine." Stefan agreed from behind her. "But promise you'll call us if you run into trouble." When he got no confirmation, he spoke again, gently prodding her. "Caroline?"

She nodded brusquely. "Yes, ok, fine."  _I can do this on my own though… I mean, what use am I if I can't even keep my family safe?_  The blonde said none of this aloud though, knowing it would do her no good.

"Good. I'll tell the others."

A second later, Caroline heard another whoosh and Stefan was gone, leaving her alone to her thoughts. Just as she'd wanted. For a moment, the blonde felt lost, overwhelmed by the gravity it all. It wasn't just that Silas had made his threats, it was also that Caroline going back to Beacon Hills… the place she's avoided ever since she left it. The place that had caused her so much pain…

_Mystic Falls hasn't exactly been better for me, though, everywhere I go there seems to be pain, suffering._

_It doesn't matter, either way. I_ have _to go._

_For Stiles. For my dad. For me._

* * *

Elena sat patiently in one of the Salvatore's many leather sofas, waiting. So much had happened in last couple of days, she'd barely gotten time to readjust. Silas came for a visit, Caroline's in a state of panic and Elena… Elena had only just turned her humanity back on.

It was difficult, probably one of the most difficult things she'd ever done and the brunette was sure it would remain that way for a long time. Her mind seemed to constantly pull her back into despair, back into all the pain she'd caused.  _How could I have been so cruel?_

Every time it happened, she had to remind herself to stay focused, to keep the humanity they'd all fought so hard to return to her. And, in order to do so, she had to pick one emotion to narrow in on. Elena had chosen anger,  _rage_ … rage at Katherine, for all the things she'd done to her doppelgänger and the rest of the Mystic Falls gang. Oh, she was sure Stefan hadn't exactly meant  _this_  emotion when he'd told her to focus on just one… But it had been the only one she'd been willing to give into… It was simple,  _easy_.

Until now, that is. Now, it seemed her mind was focused solely on worry. Worry for Caroline, her best friend, the closest thing she had to a sister. Along with Bonnie, that is.

It had been a while since she'd been so worried for her usually, if a little bit neurotic friend. Caroline was normally the stable one, the one that had taken to vampirism like a fish to water. The blonde had just been so inherently  _good_  at the whole thing; it was difficult to see her lose control as she was because of Silas' threats to her family.

But then, Elena supposed family made you lose control. Maybe that's just what family's for, pushing you to your limits but never giving up on you.

And, though Elena had only ever met Caroline's brother once, she suspected that he would agree…

_There was a lot of confusion when Elena arrived at the hospital; people running everywhere, doctors and nurses doing their jobs, frantic family members passing by. It hurt the brunette to watch life going on around her in such vigor when hers seemed to be at a standstill. She couldn't believe that Caroline… that Caroline…_

_Car crashes. Elena_ hated  _them with her entire being, more than she thought herself possible of hating. But they seemed to take everything she loved from her, and now they were threatening to take another… another life, another good person, lost in nothing but an_ accident _._

_But, Elena Gilbert knew… life tended to far crueler to the righteous._

_As her mind went about in circles of never-ending, annoying_ thought _, the brunette found herself looking for distraction,_ any _sort of distraction_.  _She just didn't want to stand here in the hallways anymore, only waiting and waiting and waiting as she looked to the door behind which her best friend might be_ dying.

 _Finally, Elena found something for her wandering mind to focus on as she watched two unfamiliar men stride purposefully into the hallway. The first thing that caught her was that, yes they were_ completely _unfamiliar; strangers of that extent were very rare in Mystic Falls. Even if you did not know someone, you were guaranteed to see them at least once before, considering the size of the town._

 _The second, and probably most important thing that caught her eye was that they were heading to_ Caroline's _room… and not just that, after a short argument with the nurse right outside her friend's door, the older man was just_ let right in _._

 _Just like that. Whereas Elena, who had been waiting for_  hours, _had been refused at every turn._

 _She watched with wide eyes as the younger of the two stood outside the door for a moment longer, looking unsure, like he wanted to go in but_ couldn't _. Instead he turned away from it, and with a long sigh flopped gracelessly into one of the hard plastic chairs right outside the patient room. The young man, probably only a year or so older than Elena herself she realized, put his head heavily into his hands, rubbing tired eyes, before moving his face up again, hands clapped in front of his nose and mouth. For some reason_ that _gesture sparked a note of familiarity in the brunette; she'd seen someone do the exact same thing in difficult times before…_

Caroline.

_Suddenly, her curiosity got the better of her and the next thing Elena knew, she was standing right in front of the unfamiliar yet oddly familiar stranger._

" _Who are you?" She asked bluntly, wincing as soon as it was out of her mouth. Still, she stood her ground as the guy turned his startling hazel eyes on her._

" _Excuse me?" He asked, not looking angry but rather exhausted. It seemed as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders in that moment._

 _Elena took an immediate and figurative step back, her compassion and empathy coming to her in a tidal wave._ He looks like he's in so much pain…  _"I'm sorry." She said quickly. "I mean, I saw you and that other man come here and then he went into Caroline's room and I was wondering how you knew her? Oh, right, I'm Elena by the way, Caroline's friend." Had it been another time, the brunette might have been annoyed by her frankly alarming rambling (Elena didn't really ramble usually), but it had been a beyond emotional day so she found she didn't much care._

_The guy smiled wryly at her, though his eyes remained dull. He gestured carelessly to the empty seat beside him, seemingly knowing what she really needed; company. "Stiles. Caroline's brother." He introduced himself, much to Elena's shock._

" _Her brother?" She asked incredulously._ Hold on… what?

" _Yep. The one and only." He confirmed as he leaned back in his chair, wringing his twitchy hands together._

 _And suddenly it came together._ Of course _._ Brother.

" _Right, she told me about you once." Elena muttered as she took him,_ Stiles _, up on his silent invitation and sat by his side. Caroline had always been strangely secret when it came to her family, outside of her aunt that is. It had naturally taken her friend a minute to realize that Stiles was actually_ related _to the blonde. But, now that he said it, she could see it. They didn't exactly look alike; oh they had similar features, height and bone structure and the like. But, Elena realized, it seemed to be more in their gestures where they were similar._

" _I'm really sorry I was so rude to you before." She said suddenly, turning to face her new companion, guilt lying deep within her._ If he's feeling anything like I am now, I probably less than helped him.

" _Don't worry about it, I'm sure I'd do the same if some random stranger came to ask me questions about a loved one." Stiles replied with no small amount of sarcasm, giving her a meaningful look with his intelligent hazel eyes._

_Despite the fact that the dig was meant for her, Elena smiled, the biting remark reminding her of his sister's familiar wit. "Yeah, kind of messed that up." She admitted._

_Immediately, Stiles sighed, as if ashamed by his behavior to her. "No, it's ok. At least she's got someone looking out for her." He said after a minute, looking away again. He seemed deep in thought, and deeply troubled._ God, the weight must be crushing him _…_ He seems almost familiar with this kind of thing… kind of like-like me…

 _Elena quickly pulled herself out of those thoughts, not wanting her mind to drift to her parents again. Still the look the other teen wore was one familiar to her, and it gave her more clues into Caroline's family._ Dad, brother… but no mom.

_It was too much for her. Elena, barely realizing it as she did so, found herself turning to Caroline's brother, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. His gaze met hers immediately, a look of complete surprise on his features at this action. "Hey, Stiles, I know I don't know you or anything, but you need to know this wasn't your fault." She told him, firmly._

I can see the guilt on you… just like I see it in me…

_Stiles' bright eyes darkened considerably. He shook his head, gaze dropping to his trembling hands. "How couldn't it be? I should've checked up on her more, come over here." He whispered, voice cracking._

_This time it was Elena who shook her head. "It was an accident, there's nothing you could have done even if you were here. Trust me on that." She said, no doubt in her voice. It was strange, this connection she felt with Caroline's brother; it was a connection of loss, she realized, painful as it was. At least now it would do her some good, maybe she could help him a little, be a friend to him._

" _Elena, all due respect and all that jazz, but you don't understand." Stiles said after a while, voice still quiet, still full of guilt. "Care… she's my little sister. It's-It's my job to protect her. I should've been there,_ here _." His admission seemed to be difficult for him as he struggled to get the words out. The brunette found herself smiling sadly at him._

" _How could you have been? You guys live in entirely different states, on opposite sides of the country." She reminded him calmly, gently. For some reason, she had the feeling that soft coercion worked better with Stiles than forcefulness…_ Just like Caroline.

" _I don't know!" He exclaimed, frustrated. "Maybe I should have told her to come home sooner, insisted she came back." He starting spouting out ideas but before he could much farther with it, his sister's friend interrupted him with a determined look._

" _You know Caroline wouldn't forgive you if you did that." She told him firmly. Elena knew the words hit a string with him when he suddenly froze, only his eyes shifting to look at her in shock._

_Then, finally he cracked a smile, a real one. "Huh, looks like you really are her friend." Stiles replied with an incredulous chuckle._

" _I'll always be there for her." She reassured him as she squeezed his shoulder once, before finally letting go, knowing he wouldn't need her support for much longer. "Look, I don't want to be weird or whatever, but I really do think you shouldn't blame yourself. It was an accident." Elena reaffirmed, not wanting to Stiles to doubt the words. She knew Caroline would hate it if she knew that her brother blamed himself for her predicament._

" _I'll keep that in mind…" He said dryly in return, not making any promises. The two former-strangers sat in silence for a little while, neither much feeling like talking anymore. The reality of the situation the two teens found themselves was simply too much at moments._

_Finally, however, Stiles decided to break the silence around them with an unexpected question. "Can I ask is she… is she happy here?" He looked at her tentatively, as if scared of her answer._

_Elena examined him for a moment before nodding. "I think so."_

_Immediately Stiles himself also nodded, a bit spastically. "Good, that's good." He muttered; he seemed to be about to ask another question when a nurse approached the two of them._

" _Mr. Stilinski, you may join your father and sister now; she'll be awake soon." She said to Stiles, not sparing Elena the slightest glance._

" _Ok, thanks." He smiled tightly, though Elena could see he was eager to see Caroline, judging by the new light in his eyes. He turned to the brunette again, giving her another genuine smile before standing and moving to go into his sister's room. Before he got there completely, however, Elena called out to him._

" _Hey Stiles!" He turned to her, looking, for lack of a better term, like a confused puppy, wondering what more the brunette could have to say to him. She spared him a brief smile and then continued. "For the record, whenever Caroline talks about you, she always says that you're the best brother she could have…" Her smile widened. "I can see why now."_

_Stiles nodded to her, looking at her rather gravely. "Thanks, Elena… and not just you know, for that." He gestured randomly with his hands, trying and failing to find the right words. Despite this, Elena understood._

_So she simply nodded at him, said a small 'you're welcome,' and let him go, watching as he dashed into his little sister's hospital room._

_A few minutes later, Elena herself also stood up, but headed the opposite direction, deciding to take her waiting to the cafeteria, where she was sure Bonnie and Matt still were._

_Caroline had her brother and her father right now… she wouldn't need her friends for a little while yet._

Elena smiled slightly at the memory, truly hoping Stiles would be alright. They'd barely talked for ten minutes really, but the brunette could tell Caroline's brother was a good person. An honest person. He certainly didn't deserve whatever Silas was planning for him.

But, though he was in danger, and that danger was why Caroline would be going home, Elena suspected that this trip would serve for more than just some protection detail… because it wasn't her  _friends_  that Caroline needed.

It was her family.

* * *

A mere half-hour after Stefan left, Caroline was completely ready to go; her bags were all packed and in the car, the freezer box of blood bags carefully hidden in the trunk. Now that she managed to get everything she needed done, the nerves were  _really_  beginning to settle in.  _What if they don't want me to stay with them? I mean, it is in the middle of school and…_

 _No. Stop. They're you're family._ Of course  _they'll want you. Don't be stupid._

_But after last time-_

_No. No. Get a grip. It'll be fine._

Wanting to distract her still debating mind, the blonde headed back inside her house, needing to talk to her aunt before she left. She'd talked to Liz this morning about the whole Silas thing; she'd deserved to know the full extent of what happened considering what the bastard had done to her. The Sheriff had taken it surprisingly well, letting Caroline talk without much interruption. In fact, she'd taken it better than her niece, because it was as the vampire had been talking of what had happened that she realized the true extent of what it all  _meant…_  and then she'd begun panicking because her  _family_ was in  _danger_  because of  _her._ And so the next thing she'd done was tell her aunt that she was going to Beacon Hills, no matter what.

Surprisingly, Liz had agreed without much protest. For some reason, Caroline had imagined she would have had something against it, seeing as it had been Liz that had stated her doubts about her niece staying in Beacon Hills in the first place.

But, the blonde supposed, things had changed. They had changed so  _very_  much.

So now here she was, in the front room of the house she shared with her aunt, saying goodbye to her.

"Caroline, honey, are you sure you need to go?" The Sheriff asked worriedly.

The vampire nodded, trying desperately to seem calmer and more confident than she was. "I'm sure, Aunt Liz." She said. "I mean look at what Silas nearly did to you! I need to be there, just in case something happens."

The older woman sighed slightly, resigned. "But what if something happens to  _you_?" She questioned, pointing out one of the many things that her niece put into the  _lets-not-think-about-it_  corner of her mind.

Caroline winced a little. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm hard to kill." Liz sent her a disbelieving look. "Don't worry, I'll be careful. But I really do have to go." She pressed, despite both their doubts about the whole thing.

"I know you do… Can you blame me from trying to keep you here with me?" The Sheriff finally said, her voice tight. Immediately Caroline's resolve to stay strong broke and she rushed forward and pulled the woman who had been a second mother to her into a tight hug. They'd had their rough moments, especially in the beginning when Caroline had blamed her in part for her separation from Stiles. But, in the end, Liz cared about her niece like she was her own, and she had supported her and that was all that really mattered.

"Aunt Liz, I'm not going to be gone forever, I swear." Caroline whispered, knowing it to be true. She wouldn't be able to stay away from Mystic Falls for very long, even if she wanted to… not with everything going on around here…

Her aunt squeezed her tightly for a moment longer before letting go, attempting to look as if this wasn't affecting her. "Ok, ok. I'm fine." Liz said, laughing to try and alleviate some of the tension in the room. "Just take yourself and that clumsy brother of yours, ok?"

Caroline nodded, trying to keep emotion at bay herself. "I will." She swore, determined not to break her promise.  _Nothing is going to happen to him or Dad. Not on my watch._  She gave her aunt a final hug before turning to go. "I'll call you as soon as I get there."

Liz smiled a little, waving her off. "Bye, honey."

* * *

Though Caroline wanted nothing more than to drive straight to Beacon Hills, she knew that she should probably go talk to her friends before she left. And now that she'd calmed down some, she knew that a detour would not make that much difference. Mystic Falls and Beacon Hills are literally on opposite ends of the country; it would take her at a couple days to get there by car.

_If I could take a plane, I would… But I need to bring blood with me. Beacon Hills is pretty far from everything and with Dad being the Sheriff… he'd know immediately if I took some of the hospital's blood._

_I can't risk anything… Besides Dad and Stiles are way too smart not to put two and two together. They might know exactly_ what _is going on, but I'm sure they would be able to connect me to it._

_I have no choice. Better safe than sorry._

_They can't find out what I am. It would… It would break them. They would hate me._

Caroline tried not to let the harsh reality put her down too much; she needed to focus on getting to Beacon Hills and keeping her secret. She didn't need any distractions, not even from her own mind.

Trying to keep to that philosophy, the blonde kept her eyes firmly on the road until she reached the Salvatore house, not allowing her thoughts to wander once. When she pulled into the driveway of the old house, she saw her friends opening the front door and waiting outside for her. Heck, even  _Damon_  was there. As soon as she was out of the car, they all approached.

"So you're ready to go?" Stefan asked as he opened the car door for her.

Caroline nodded, smiling. "Yeah, Stef, I am. Thanks for, you know, having my back in this." She added on softly.

"No problem. We'll see you soon." The younger Salvatore replied before giving her a quick hug goodbye. As soon as Caroline was out of Stefan's arms she was pulled simultaneously into Bonnie and Elena's.

"Oh, come on guys why are you all acting like I'm going to war or something." The blonde said with a laugh.  _Don't show them how worried you are. They don't need that right now._

"I guess it's just that since everything has happened to us, no one has really  _left_  you know?" Bonnie said, she and Elena pulling back. The witch had a hint of tears in her eyes as she spoke and Caroline found herself rubbing her friend's arm in an attempt to comfort her.

What she had said was certainly true; it has been ages since they've all truly been separated and it wasn't going to be easy, she knew. They'd all come rely on each other more than ever… And Caroline was leaving when Elena had only just regained her humanity.  _It needs to happen though._

With that in mind, the blonde vampire was quick to reassure the two girls she considered sisters. "I'm coming back Bonnie, I can't leave you guys here to deal with all this. But I also can't ignore my family anymore; they need to be protected too." She explained, firmly but gently.

This time it was Elena who spoke, sending her friend an understanding. "We know, don't worry. Things will be just fine on our end, there are enough of us here to be ok. Now go, you don't know what could happen if you don't get there soon." Then, the brunette pulled Bonnie away and went to stand by the Salvatore brothers, presenting a united front for Caroline, so that she could leave without feeling too much guilt.

And for that, she would be forever grateful.

* * *

It had been a week since it happened. It had been a week since Stiles had seen something that seemed to come from his worst nightmares. A week since Stiles had been able to sleep through the night. He was beginning to think he might be going insane.

And it was all because what happened a week ago.

All because he saw his little sister become a monster. Because he saw his little sister attempt to  _kill_  herself.

 _But it wasn't Caroline,_  he had to remind himself for the thousandth time, _not really. Care's fine. She's in Mystic Falls with Aunt Liz. She's as far away as she could realistically get._

Suddenly, a bell rang, crashing Stiles out of his daze. That kept happening too, him practically dozing off when he wasn't doing anything that required his full attention. Even now, at school, when he was supposed to be  _learning_  (well ok maybe not learning per se, but at least making wise cracks at everything), he was instead  _daydreaming_.  _Is it daydreaming if all I'm seeing is nightmares?_

Either way, things have not been going for well for the eldest Stilinski child.

Sighing heavily, Stiles stood up, taking his unopened backpack with him as he exited the classroom, following behind his best friend; Scott had been giving him concerned, puppy dog looks all day and Stiles was sure he would ask what was up with him at any moment now.

He got why, really, it wasn't exactly like him to spend days on end in a seemingly melancholy state, with barely a sarcastic comment to make.

Suddenly, Scott pulled him to a stop in the hallways, taking his friend by the shoulder. "Hey, Stiles man, you ok?" He asked, concern written all over his features.  _Ah, there it is._

"Fine. Perfectly fine." Stiles attempted to just shrug it off, not wanting to discuss the fact that his nights had been filled with seeing nothing but his little sister  _dying_. Either way, it seemed he wasn't getting out of this so easily when his best friend gave him a disbelieving look. Stiles sighed in return, rubbing a hand tiredly over his face. "Scott, can we please not to do the whole touchy-feely lets talk about our deepest secrets thing right now?" He asked, somewhat desperately. "I don't think I can deal with another one of your cry fests." Stiles added on, dryly.  _Maybe that will work._

Immediately, Scott looked appropriately offended. "Hey! What are you- I don't cry." The werewolf said, stumbling over his words.

Stiles put on an amused smile, quirking an eyebrow as he patted his friend's back sympathetically. "Uhuh, whatever floats your boat, buddy."  _Good ol' Scott._

His friend shook his head, trying to look annoyed but ultimately his small smile of satisfaction gave him away. "I'm serious though, you sure you're good?" Scott asked after a short moment, determined to make sure Stiles was ok. He hadn't really told anyone what had happened back at the motel, he hadn't even told Lydia everything and she had been right  _there_  when it happened. Luckily, though, it seemed his resident crush was keeping his secret as well because none of the others had a clue that Stiles had been affected too.

So, he smiled and lied to his best friend's face. "Come on man, I'm fine – I mean just look at me!" He gestured to himself, trying for humor. "I am  _fine_." Scott rolled his eyes and Stiles could see his lame joke worked. "I'll see you in fifth period, ok?" He clapped a hand on his wolfy friend's back and made to go to his next class, stumbling a bit as he turned too quickly in his haste.

"Ok dude." Scott said, amusement twinkling in his eyes at his friend's thoughtlessness.

 _Man,_ Stiles thought,  _if you only you knew._

* * *

Unfortunately, it seemed all of Stiles' skills at making a getaway had been used on Scott, and he had none left for other prying minds. Well, mainly one prying mind, one prying and very  _intelligent_  mind.

Just because Lydia had kept his secret for him, doesn't mean she wasn't going to continue trying to get all details about it out of him; she was still Lydia Martin, after all.

"Stiles, you know I'm going to get it out of you. In case you haven't noticed, keeping secrets isn't exactly your forte." The strawberry blonde said now, following closely behind him, determined not to let him run from her. It was rather ironic, really. It usually seemed like Stiles was the one always on Lydia's tail, always one step behind her… and now those roles were completely reversed. At any other time, Stiles was sure he'd celebrate. As it was, however, he found he didn't appreciate being chased down by his crush in the hallways of their school, as she tried to needle answers out of him.

"I kept the pack a secret didn't I?" Stiles replied with a sigh as he stopped by his locker. Lydia stopped beside him, looking up at him with intelligent green eyes.

"Yeah." She snorted, tossing her hair. "Barely."

"Look, Lydia, it has nothing to  _do_  with you." He said tightly.  _I don't want talk about it. Ever._

At this, the other teenager looked surprised. "It  _does_  have something to do with me!" She insisted, referring once again to the fact that she had been  _right there_ when the whole thing had happened, that she had been the one to pull him out of his hopeless, horrific trance. "Don't you think it's weird that of all the people,  _humans_ , at that godforsaken hotel you and I were the only ones to get affected?" Lydia pointed out, her gaze searching his.

"Of course I think it's weird!" Stiles replied, a little too loudly. He quieted down as people in the hallway started to look at them funny, as if they had just realized that  _the_  Lydia Martin was hanging around Stiles Stilinski, resident class clown. He ignored this however, solely focusing on the topic at hand. "But my whole life is weird and I can't just stop everything because of some dumbass hallucinations." He continued on.

"Yeah, dumbass hallucinations that  _clearly_  have been keeping you awake at night. How long has it been since you've gotten a decent night's sleep?" She looked at him expectantly, a wicked sort of triumph in her green eyes. She had him there and she  _knew_  it.

Stiles looked away, but he didn't lie. He couldn't, not to her. "A week." He muttered.

"A week, you mean ever since we came back from the trip." She reiterated, looking at him calculatingly. She raised a brow at him expectantly, as if to say I told you so.

"Yes, alright Lydia,  _yes_. Now would you just leave me alone?" He practically pleaded, shutting his locker door exasperatedly.  _Just leave it be._

Lydia shook her head, her lips in a thin line. "Sorry, can't do that."

"Why the hell not? You've ignored me most of my life, I'm sure it's not that hard to get back to." Stiles hissed, uncharacteristically vicious, making the strawberry blonde' eyes widen a bit surprise; he might argue with her sometimes but he never did anything purposefully hurtful. Ever. For a moment, Stiles could see sadness pass through Lydia's eyes but soon enough it was hidden away, as it always was, and replaced with her usual sass and wit.

"Call it curiosity but I want to know what that  _thing_  made you see…" She trailed off, looking at him in steely determination.

Stiles deflated, feeling suddenly helpless. He leaned imperceptibly into the door of his locker. "Why?" He asked softly, eyes searching hers.

"First of all, the haunting should never have happened to you,  _you're_  human, at least what passes for human." Lydia couldn't seem to resist tacking on that comment at the end, to no one's surprise.

" _Thanks_  for that." Stiles replied, words dripping with sarcasm. He ignored the slight twinge in his heart that her words caused.  _That seems to be my problem lately, doesn't it? Humanity… or rather lack thereof. I'm scared of Caroline turning into a something not human… a monster… I'm scared of her losing_ her _humanity._

Lydia, not knowing the effects she was having on the boy next to her, continued. "Secondly, why  _you_? And why now?" She asked him now, her tone losing its bite and turning into something more akin to concern. But that wasn't right was it? Lydia  _concerned_? Over  _him_?

His gaze softened as he turned to her fully, wanting to drill his words into her this time. "Look Lydia, you can keep asking but I'm not going to tell you, ok? So just  _please_  leave it be." Stiles was disappointed when she once again shook her head.

"Thirdly…" She trailed off, sighing lightly, her eyes flicking away from his for the barest moment before she seemed to steel herself and turn them back, even more determined than before. "Thirdly, I know what it's like to feel like you're losing your mind and I think that maybe you need someone to talk to about…  _whatever_  happened." She told him, completely sincere.

Stiles' brow furrowed. "I don't get it, why are you helping me?" He asked her, his gestures from him to her getting increasingly erratic as he spoke.

Lydia rolled her eyes, trying to make it seem like this is an everyday occurrence. "Well, you did try to help me, more than a few times." She informed him, nose turned up in supposed superiority.

"Guess you noticed that huh?" Stiles scratched the back of his head awkwardly.  _Am I really that obvious?_

"Well, I do have an IQ of 170." She raised an eyebrow in his direction,  _'just try me'_ written all over her face.

Immediately, Stiles cracked a grin, this being more familiar territory; it would now be Stiles trying to needle something out of Lydia, and not the other way around, just as it usually was. "Sure, that's the only reason you noticed."

She glared at him, obviously not amused or impressed by his comment. " _Whatever_ , Stiles, just tell me what's going on." She commanded him.

His smile dropped from his face and he sighed in exhaustion. "No." He told her. This came as a shock to them both; even Stiles couldn't remember a time he had completely refused Lydia on  _anything_.

"What do you mean  _no_?" She asked incredulously.

"I mean no." This time he managed to make his tone firmer, showing how serious he was about the whole thing. "As much as I appreciate what you're trying to do, and I really do Lydia, I just, I can't talk about it yet, ok?" He spoke honestly, not wanting to lie anymore than he  _had_  to.

Lydia considered this for a minute, looking at him suspiciously. Eventually though, he saw the resigned acceptance play over face and Stiles cheered internally. She didn't completely let it go though. "But you'll tell me sometime?" She asked him, looking for confirmation.  _Smart as always, getting me to spell it out for her so I can't deny it later._

"Sure. Yeah, I will." He sighed again, to which Lydia brightened in triumph.

For some reason, despite his own temporary reprieve, Stiles felt himself getting annoyed at the entire situation. He  _hated_  all the lies, the lack of sleep, the not being left alone when he sorely needed to be... the people he loved getting hurt. It was all just so  _unfair_ ; what had he ever done to deserve such a crappy lot in life?

He was just incredibly tired of it all.  _Exhausted_. It was too much. He needed to just forget about it. He needed to calm down and relax.

He needed… He needed… He…  _I need my mom. I need my dad._

_I need Caroline._

Barely aware of what was happening outside of his head, Stiles turned away from the still talking Lydia and headed for the front door of the school. He pushed passed several of the other students, his breath coming in short gasps as his panic started to cloud his vision, just as it always did when he thought too long about the tragedies that had happened in his family.

"Wait, where are you going Stiles?" He vaguely heard Lydia say to him as she once again followed him.

"Home. I need to get out of here." He muttered, hands beginning to shake as he continued to stumble through the hallway.

"Home? It's barely third period and, in case you forgot, we have an experiment to finish in chem." She sounded personally offended by his decision and before Stiles could stop himself he found his lips forming a biting reply.

"You finish it, you're always going on about how you could easily do it better on your own anyways." He barely gave himself the time to register the hurt expression on her face, immediately moving away from Lydia, away from school, away from  _all of it_.

"Stiles!" He distantly heard call his name. Stiles ignored it as the shaking that had temporarily left him in his anger returned tenfold. He burst through the front doors of the school, his eyes instantly searching for his trusty blue jeep. Once finding it, he barely managed to get to it, his legs giving out the second he stood beside it.

He leaned back against it, breath coming in and out in short, sharp gasps. His lungs ached at the lack of oxygen, his brain woozy. Stiles desperately tried to regain control.

 _Panic attack. Panic attack. Come on, Stiles,_ breathe. But no matter how hard he seemed to try, he could not seem to keep his mind out of the darkness.

 _Need Mom. Need Dad. Need Caroline. Need… Need…_ Stiles shook his head furiously, forcing himself to focus.

_Air. I need air._

_I need to breathe._

_I need to breathe for Caroline._ It was that thought that seemed to give him the strength to regain control over himself. Though the air still came out of his mouth harshly, he managed to get it actually  _into_  his lungs until, eventually, his breath slowed to a semi-normal rate.

As everything became clear around him, Stiles realized that his hands were still shaking, his heart thumping loudly in his chest.

_In. Out. In. Out._

Slowly, slowly, all of the symptoms of his panic attack went away. The source of his panic, however, remained. And, he supposed, it always would. Because family never does leave you, even when they aren't standing next to you… Stiles knew  _that_ all too well.

When he felt ok enough to get up, Stiles got into his jeep and drove out of the school without a single glance back… And despite the general unhappiness, it didn't slip his notice that his hands remained steady on the steering wheel the entire way.

_Maybe I'll be ok. Maybe things aren't as bad as they seem._

* * *

Regardless, the utter annoyance that Stiles felt at life did not let up that entire day. Ever since Scott became a lot more  _growly_  things just seemed to keep getting worse and worse. Not that he blamed his friend, or anything like that; that would certainly not be Stiles', well,  _style_. Still, there were times when he just wished things would be  _easy_  again.

But every time he thought that, he was saddened by the fact that things hadn't really been  _easy_  in a much longer time. Not since before his mother got sick. It truly struck Stiles to his core, that revelation. What kind of life was he leading that he could not seem to get over his own sadness?

Yes, he was usually cheerful, if overly so and often  _very_  sarcastic. But, in a way, it tended to be more Stiles' armor than anything. He didn't want to be that pathetic kid that lost his mom to cancer; he didn't want  _that_  of all things to be his label… He didn't want to be reminded of those horrible things with every look he got.

Sometimes, though… sometimes it was impossibly  _difficult_  to keep the darkness at bay.

It was times like these that he missed his sister sorely; because if there was anyone who got it, it was  _her_.

Speaking of Caroline, his mind went straight to that vision he'd had of her. That bloody, horrific image that he could not get out of his head. And, to be honest, Stiles was pretty sure it would  _stay_ in his head as long as he did nothing about it.

_What if it's a warning? What if she's going to be targeted?_

But at the same time, he knew that made no  _sense_. After all, Caroline was all the way in Mystic Falls, very far from Beacon Hills.

 _Maybe that does not matter to it though… Maybe it knows that we're trying to stop_ whatever _it's doing and it wants to go after our families to make us stop…_

_But why haven't the others seen something like this then?_

Stiles mind went around in circles as he thought about it, getting nowhere. Well, not exactly,  _nowhere_. He'd come to one decision he  _knew_  was needed. He was only sorry it had taken him this long to get there.

_I need to go see her, make sure she's ok. Maybe I can ask Deaton to give some mountain ash and I can ward her room… I should probably ask for some other stuff too then._

_I won't be too late to protect her ever again. Not after last time._

Decision officially made, the eldest Stilinski immediately set about making his plans, trying to work out the kinks. He'd have to get around his dad for one, find a way to go to Caroline without him stopping him  _or_ coming with him.  _That'll probably be the hardest part of this whole thing._

As he ran around his room, gathering various things, also going to his computer to check news of Mystic Falls, Stiles was completely focused. He was intelligent, he knew, but he had also always had attention issues. But when it came to important matters like this, he was more hardworking than anyone. It's just how he was.

Just as he was grabbing the duffel he had stowed in his closet, he heard the doorbell ring. Stiles immediately froze, confused and suspicious.  _No one rings the doorbell, Dad has a key and Scott just comes in._

Cautiously, he made his way downstairs, wary at whom he would find at the door.  _Maybe Lydia decided she wasn't patient enough to wait for her answers._ He nearly groaned out loud at that thought, knowing it could very well be true. It was odd, really. On any other given day, he would pray to have Lydia Martin at his doorstep, but right now he really didn't need any strawberry blonde genius bothering him.

Already planning on sending whoever was at his doorstep away, Stiles opened the door, ready to say his piece…

…only to have everything fly out of his mind when he realized just  _who_  was actually there.

His eyes widened comically as he examined the blonde girl before him. She looked exactly the same as when he saw her last. Same blues eyes, same pale skin, same blonde curls. She was looking at him with a small smile as her own gaze examined him as he was doing to her. Stiles' intelligent eyes noted the bag at her side, clearly fully packed like she was planning to stay.

 _This… This must be a dream… This just_ cannot _be real…_

"Caroline…" He said, his voice sounding out of body, his mind in a flurry but also strangely calm as he stood before the familiar blonde,  _my little sister_. "You're here." For some reason, he just couldn't wrap his head around it. After all, what kind of coincidence would that be, for her to just show up only a week after he'd been shown that vision of her… for her to show just when he was on the verge of going to  _her_.

His sister seemed oddly unfazed, for the most part, even despite his open jaw and comical wide eyes. Caroline simply smiled tightly at her brother, looking unsure but no worse for the wear. "Hey, Stiles." She said softly.

It was her voice that made it real for Stiles. Even the vision hadn't been able to completely one hundred percent emulate Caroline's voice. It hadn't been able to capture the depth to it, the inflection in which she used it that was so utterly  _her_.

_God, she's really here. How is this even happening?_

As Stiles' thoughts went rampant, he didn't realize the awkward silence that was extending between them, at least not until Caroline decided to speak again. "…So you just going to let me stand here all night or are you going to let me in? It's kind of cold you know." She informed him with a raised brow of reproach, her Stilinski wit fully intact.

_Yup, that's definitely Care._

Finally,  _finally_  Stiles got over his shock, swallowing harshly as he tried to get back to himself. Only when he did so, did he speak. "Yeah, sorry, come in." He almost immediately winced at the formality of the phrase. _This is her home too, dumbass._  "I mean just… yeah…" The teenager tried to desperately rectify the situation but when he noticed it was only making it worse, he stumbled to an awkward halt and simply moved to the side of the doorway, signally to his sister that she should enter.

Said sister immediately smiled at that, very familiar with Stiles' antics. She took an almost tentative step in, looking around intently before finally speaking again, trying to keep her voice steady and firm as she did so. "Thanks. Look, I know it's kind of weird me barging in like this but I just need to see you guys, I really missed you, and I-"

_She missed us?_

With a sudden burst, Stiles ended Caroline's anxious rambling, pulling her into a tight hug, abruptly overwhelmed by the sheer  _relief_ that his little sister was  _here_  and that she was all right. It was as if all the fears that had been lying heavily on his shoulders the past week were finally lifted once he confirmed that she really was ok, alive and healthy. Soon enough, Caroline had recovered from her shock and wrapped her arm's tightly around him as well, her slight trembling betraying her bravado for her true feelings. In any other given moment, Stiles might have been embarrassed or tried to brush off his sudden display of affection, but as it was he simply held on as tightly as he could.

It was the first time in what seemed like forever that he was not tormented by the image of his dying sister.  _Thank God she's here._   _She's alive, she's ok. She's still Care, still my annoying little sister._

The elder of the two Stilinski children wasn't quite sure how long they stood there in the front hallway of the house, the door still open, the bag still on the porch, but Stiles found that he didn't much care. It had been more than a year since he'd seen Caroline; far too long.

For some reason, Stiles began to shudder, still wracked with all the emotions of the last week, of the last  _year_. His sister immediately seemed to sense his distress, her hand beginning to rub his back soothingly, reminding him so much of their mother that he only started shaking even worse.

"I'm really glad you're here, Care." He admitted quickly, his voice barely steady enough to be understood. "I-I missed you too." He added on at the end, thinking of her earlier words and how close they had to hit to home.  _I missed you so much, more than I can possibly explain._

It was true, of course. Perhaps unlike other siblings, the Stilinski children were always thick as thieves. Even when they fought or pestered each other, there had always mutual love and respect between them; most of all though, they understood each other like no one else. Stiles had missed that understanding, that support, he'd missed Caroline and he didn't fully realize how much he did until recently.

And as always, his little sister continued to understand him, because instead of attempting to comfort Stiles in his emotional moment, she let him get it out, waiting patiently.

In fact, during this time, Caroline only said one thing.

"I'm glad I'm here too, Stiles. More than anything."

 


	3. Silent Songs

Caroline felt her fast beating heart calm for the first time in hours when Stiles pulled her into a hug. She'd been so incredibly nervous, completely terrified if she were being honest. The drive over hadn't really helped any, either. In fact, it had only succeeded in making her fears amplify. It had been two sleep deprived days of doubts. She'd begun to doubt everything, begun to worry that her brother and her dad wouldn't even let her in the house. She'd worried that they'd forgotten all about her. It was ridiculous, of course, and this moment right now just proved it.

It was this embrace that assuaged her fears, at least for the moment. Stiles was still completely and utterly human; Silas hadn't acted on his threat just yet, much to her relief. Not only that, but it seemed all was well between them. Though at first seeing her brother had been extremely awkward, even for them, once the barrier was broken neither held anything back. Despite the fact that their last meeting had ended in a horrible argument between Caroline and their dad, Stiles being the mediator as always, he had welcomed her back with open arms. Literally.

Caroline wasn't quite sure how long they stood there in the hallway of her childhood home, wrapped in a tight embrace, but she did know it was one of the rare moments in the last few months that she was completely at peace. In the end though, Stiles loosened his arms and pulled back, head down.

"Sorry. " He muttered, clearing his throat awkwardly, obviously trying to seem unaffected by the whole thing. He turned his eyes to hers again and Caroline found herself rather shocked by the amount of  _emotion_  that was in his gaze. It shouldn't really be surprising, however, Stiles was never one to something by halves, just like herself. He shuffled his feet inelegantly now, gathering his thoughts. "I just uh-" He stopped abruptly, shrugging helplessly as he found no words.

_Stiles speechless, that_ _'_ _s a first._

Caroline smiled widely at him. "It's ok." She reassured, automatically understanding what he could not say. ( _I missed you, you_ _'_ _re here, please don_ _'_ _t go anywhere_.) Her immediate comprehension brought a smile to Stiles' face as well, and he just shook his head ruefully. The blonde laughed at this, alleviating the tension that had once again descended upon the room. "It's really been a while." She stated.

Stiles snorted as he moved to grab the bag that was still standing in the open doorway. "Yeah, no shit. Glad you can still state the obvious, Care; that's an important skill to have." He told her, sarcasm thick in his voice.

Caroline's eyes narrowed, and she took advantage of the moment as her brother bent to take her suitcase, deciding to whack him hard on his head.

Stiles sprung up immediately. "Hey! Ow!" He exclaimed loudly, his hands moving erratically as he tried express the amount of 'pain' he was in.

"Now, now Stiles; sarcasm is not actually considered a language, you know." The younger of the two siblings tutted mockingly.

"Violence isn't the answer either! Back half-a-second and already abusing me. Cruel woman. And just when I was trying to be a gentleman too, jeez." Stiles grumbled, rubbing the back of his head; it had actually hurt him more than when she did it in the past to be honest… Not that he would tell Caroline that.  _Ever_. He looked to his sister now, seeing her smiling at him with amusement. Sighing he dropped his grumpy act, and smiled back. Caroline shook her head at him, and moved to take her suitcase in by herself, before shutting the door.  _I_ _'_ _ll have to get the freezer box later._

As Caroline turned to face her enormously idiotic brother again, she found he was watching her curiously. "I can't believe you're here right now." He darted forward and tugged a piece of her hair, as if checking whether she really existed and was physically here. "Huh." He pushed against her shoulder and the blonde immediately shrugged him with an exaggerated role of her eyes, feigning annoyance at his antics.

"Yeah, Stiles, I'm really here." She said dryly.

"Guess you are. And a little sturdier too" Stiles shook his arm, internally wincing at the force put behind that push. "But, Care, why are you here?" He asked after a silent moment, wanting to get a more in depth answer than 'I missed you'. "Not that I'm not happy that you are, or whatever, because I am, but you haven't come back in ages…" The elder Stilinski rambled, not wanting to offend his temperamental, and apparently very _strong_  younger sister.

"I just… I…" Caroline looked down, trying to gather her thoughts to give a more substantial and believable motive than the one she'd already stated.  _How am I supposed explain that some ancient shape-shifting witch with a grudge is after him? And Dad?_ "I don't know… It's like I said earlier, I've really been missing you guys… I just wanted to come home… Especially after what's been happening in Mystic Falls lately…"

"The animal attacks." Stiles put in, surprising his sister.

"You know about that?"  _What? Why would he need to know about that?_

Immediately he tried to pull it off as something other than it was, attempting to stay casual. Unfortunately for Stiles, however, he could never lie to her, not like he could to others. "Well, yeah, I mean it's because I- I had a project to do for, you know, school and-"

Caroline raised a brow. "You were checking up on me."

He scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning back against the door, the attempt at nonchalance falling flat and only making his seem more awkward. "Wha-uh,  _no_."

The blonde mimicked his position. "Yeah you were."

"No, I wasn't…" He said, voice practically squeaking. Caroline didn't let her disbelieving look let up until he finally caved. "Ok, ok yeah I was." Stiles admitted, shrugging almost spastically.

The younger Stilinski almost wanted to laugh at her brother's expression.  _I really should put him out of his misery._ She cracked a smile at him instead. "Thanks." Caroline said sincerely.

Now it was Stiles' turn to look surprised. "What, that's it? Thanks?" She nodded. "No yelling or hitting me on the head?" Again, she humored him and nodded, causing his slightly concerned expression to break into a smile that matched her own. "Look at you Care, maybe you  _did_  change." He teased her, trying to needle another laugh from her.

Caroline, for her part, could only barely manage to keep her smile on.

_Oh, Stiles, you really have no idea._

It struck her, at that moment, just how much she would have to lie to her brother, how much of  _herself_  that she would have to keep hidden. It was why she didn't falsely protest when Stiles' arm fell around her shoulders, as if feeling her distress, and pulled her into the living room, wanting to talk some more.

Still, she found there was nothing much to say.

* * *

Stiles was still smiling as he puttered about the kitchen, looking for some clean mugs for the coffee he'd just brewed. It was all still so surreal to him, seemed too much of a coincidence. And, in some ways, Stiles thought it must be too good to be true; there must be something else going on with Caroline to have brought her home out of nowhere.

And he was willing to bet it had something to do with the string of animal attacks that had been happening in Mystic Falls the last couple years. Ever since he had become aware of the supernatural, Stiles found himself researching more and more into oddities and possible supernatural events in his free time. His innate curiosity and insatiable thirst for knowledge had led to try and find every detail, every possible cause for everything weird thing that had happened recently.

And, during this last week of practically no sleep, Stiles had spent hours researching...

And what he had found in Mystic Falls was worrying to say the least. Like Beacon Hills, it had seen a spike in suspicious and decidedly odd activities in the past two years.

Most of Stiles wanted to deny it... Caroline couldn't be in that kind of world, right? She couldn't be in that danger?

But apparently she was... Because of him...

Or... Or maybe they really were just animal attacks and Stiles was losing his mind.

No matter what it was, Stiles decided to put it out of his mind, at least for now, and enjoy whatever time he had with his sister. Decision made, Stiles was able to finally find some clean mugs and pour the coffee in them. He was just about to rejoin Caroline in the living room when he heard the tell sound of his dad's approaching police cruiser.

_Shit... Dad doesn't know about Care... Shit._  Stiles dashed for the front door, already preparing to do damage control; the last time Sheriff Stilinski and his daughter had been in a room together, it hadn't exactly ended well. Without another moment's contemplation, he ripped the door open, greeting his father as he walked in.

For his part, the Sheriff merely took Stiles' odd behavior in stride, used to his son's ever shifting moods by now. The older man took his time to hang up his jacket, walking slowly into his office and putting away his gun, locking it in his desk drawer.

"So Dad," Stiles began when he caught up with his father, "what would you say if, I don't know, something happened that you didn't expect, at all, and you just kind of let it happen, because it's awesome and really-"

The Sheriff decided it was about time he cut off his son's rambling, unless he wanted the kid to go completely red from not taking a breath; he held his hand up. "Stiles,  _Stiles_ ; if you've got something to tell me, just spit it out." He said patiently but with command.

Stiles swallowed visibly. "Um, ok, yeah, I can do that… Well…"

"Well?" His father prodded.

"Uh…"

"Hi Daddy."

There were very few things that could stun John Stilinski, and very few more that could stun him to silence. The sudden appearance of his daughter did both. Oh, he'd known there was someone in the house, seeing as there had been an unfamiliar car parked on his driveway… and yes he had noted to the out-of-state license plates… But, Caroline coming here, coming  _home_ … it just hadn't occurred to him.

And yet here she was, staring at him with her blue eyes that looked so much like his own filling with unshed tears.

"Caroline?" He asked quietly as he continued to examine the young woman before him.  _She's grown so much._

She stepped forward, clearing her throat awkwardly, still glassy eyed. "It's me. I…" She hesitated, coming to a halting stop before him, as if she was unsure of how she should act. "I… I just wanted to see you both… and, you know, get away from Mystic Falls for a bit. I settled everything with Aunt Liz and my school and everything, so I guess-" The youngest Stilinski's explanation was cut short when her father pulled her into an unexpected embrace, much like her brother had only a few hours before.

"It's ok, sweetheart, we're glad to have you here." John whispered thickly, embracing his daughter's trembling form tightly.

Almost as if she had been holding it in all this time, Caroline let out a shattering sob. "I'm sorry, Daddy, I'm so sorry, I was so mean to you, how can you ever forgive me?"

Though the two had very often argued after Caroline's forced separation from her family, none of the arguments had ever gotten so bad as their very last one; it had happened a couple of weeks after the car crash that nearly took her from her family for good. It was like any and every feeling had come to the forefront in a cataclysmic explosion; even now John regretted many of things that had been said.

It had been more than a year since then now, and it seemed his daughter, his wonderful, and terribly missed daughter wanted to reconcile.

John wasn't going to question it.

"Caroline, look at me." He commanded her now, pulling her crying face from his chest so he could look her in the eye. This time he was not only struck by the similarity of their eyes, but just how much Caroline had come to look like her mother.  _Oh Claudia, if you could see us now._  But she couldn't, and John had to let her go and focus on whom he had now; and that was his children,  _both_  of them. "It's ok. There is nothing _, nothing,_  to forgive."

He smiled at her then.

"You're home now."

* * *

A few hours later Caroline found herself nearly dropping from exhaustion in her old room. She'd driven the past two days without nearly any sleep and then reconciled with her family after more than a year of separation; it was save to she was wiped out, both mentally and physically. Still, as it was, she needed to unpack first and get everything put away or she might never do it.  _And I need to find a hiding spot for my blood bags._

Thinking of possible solutions, she glanced around her room. It had initially surprised that everything was still the same as it had always been. After her last huge argument with her dad she had been convinced that he might turn her room into a gym or something in a bout of midlife crisis. She should have known that he would never do that; and if he had even had the thought to, Stiles would never have allowed him to.

Besides that, they had never really wanted her gone in the first place. They'd always expected her to return home some point. She knew that now.

When she had finally managed to get nearly everything put away, including the blood, which was now cleverly stored in the freezer box in her closet, under a bunch of clothes (she'd just have to find some place better later), she flopped onto her bed, her bones practically creaking; she'd just have to finish the rest later. However, just as she was about to close her eyes for a long overdue nap, she heard the telltale sound of an approaching motorcycle. Curious as to who might be coming by, she got up and looked through her window to see; the motorcycle was still quite a way's down the road, her vampire sight and hearing allowing her to pick it up.

It took her a few moments for her to realize who the familiar figure on top of the bike was, but when she did a wide smile broke across her face. All tiredness forgotten for a brief moment, she headed downstairs in a rush, just barely remembering to slow down her pace enough to make it seem somewhat human.

She was already out the door and waiting impatiently by the time the motorcycle made it to their house. The rider seemed to barely take notice of her as he took his helmet off, but when he did see her, his face morphed into a humungous and incredibly comical expression of shock. Caroline's smile only widened more in response. "Hey Scott." She greeted.

"Caroline?" He almost squeaked , still slack jawed. "You're here? Woah… it's been… a while…" He muttered, stumbling over his words awkwardly as he tried to get past his shock.

The blonde laughed lightly, shaking her head. "Yep… Now are you going to give me a hug or what?"

At her invitation, all uncertainty flew away from Scott's face and it lip up into a goofy grin. He dashed up the stairs before pulling Caroline into a huge bear hug. She found herself laughing again and returning his embrace just as enthusiastically. If there was one person who she'd missed other than her family, it was Scott McCall; being Stiles' best, and for a while, only friend brought the boy close into the Stilinski fold and Caroline sometimes thought of him as another brother, or at least a close cousin. She and him had never shared the same sort of bond that either of them did with Stiles, but they were still pretty close, and it had been a few summers since they'd last laid eyes on each other.

Speaking of which…

"Wow Scott, when did this happen?" Caroline gestured to Scott's very noticeable growth in bulk as soon as he set her down again. She squeezed his bicep teasingly, still rather surprised to find that there was actual muscle.  _Someone's grown up._ "Been eating your vegetables, have you?" She asked him with a grin.

Scott, of course, immediately turned red, clearly embarrassed at the attention. Caroline decided to the right thing and give the poor guy a break. "So, you came to see Stiles?" She asked, knowing that he did and pulling him along through the open front door.

"Yeah, I was actually going to check up on him and ask why he's been ignoring everyone's texts, but I guess I can see why…" Scott replied, somewhat ruefully as he glanced at her again.

"Still stuck at the hip, I see. You two, I swear…" She muttered, before leaning on the bannister of the stairs. "STILES, SCOTT'S HERE!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, causing the boy at her side to visibly wince; she turned back to him. "Oh, by the way, congrats on the whole lacrosse thing; my fool of a brother told me a while ago but it completely slipped my mind…" She heard the telltale crashes of Stiles running (or trying to) down the stairs. "And here's said brother now."

Stiles arrived in a flail of limbs, nearly tripping down the last step but luckily managing to save himself just in time. He recovered quickly and shot a quick glare at his sister. "Talking smack about me, Care?"

"Me? I would never." She replied sarcastically, throwing him a sugary sweet and incredibly fake smile.

The older Stilinski sibling rolled his eyes. "Because little sister's don't live to annoy their older brothers."

"Right in one."

He shook his head, giving up and looking at his friend. "What's up buddy?" He asked genially, clearly in a much better mood than he'd been in a long time.

"Uh…" Scott hesitated, looking briefly at Caroline, who, for her part, was not oblivious to it and made to move up the stairs, knowing when she wasn't wanted.

"Ok, well, I'll let you guys talk about… whatever you need to talk about. See you later, Scott." The blonde smiled tightly, suddenly worried that her brother would decide to leave the house; she wasn't quite ready to have him out of her sight just yet.  _I'm not just here to spend an idyllic holiday with my family… Silas is still out there._ Still, she didn't want to seem like that clichéd, clingy younger sibling or worse, a  _burden_ , so she decided to go without further protest.  _He'll be fine, he'll be fine._

Before she could get anywhere though, Stiles caught her wrist, not saying anything until he saw Scott go to the other room. Finally, he turned back to her.

"You know, Care, Scott and I can just talk later… if you want." He offered awkwardly, obviously sensing her distress as he always did, gesturing sporadically.

"Don't be an idiot; I'll be fine." She scoffed. "I'll just finish unpacking."

Stiles still hesitated. "You sure?" He asked, concerned.

She raised a brow.  _Gonna need to step it up a bit to convince him._  "Why wouldn't I be? Go hang out with Scott, Stiles, he look like a kicked puppy without you."

For some reason  _that_  made Stiles crack up in near hysterical laughs, his entire body shaking with the force of his guffaws.

"What?" Caroline asked, bewildered at his reaction, watching him in confusion as he tried to regain control of himself.

"Nothing." He got out, still breaking into laughs. He suddenly went up a few steps, and dropped a fond kiss on her cheek, chuckling all the while. "You're just the best." Stiles smiled hugely before running back down to his friend, shoulders still quaking.

Caroline sighed exasperatedly, but smiled slightly. "Idiot" She muttered warmly, finally going to her room.

Still, she found she couldn't relax until she reminded herself that he would be fine.  _Stiles will be fine, I'm close enough now to know if something has gone wrong._

_I hope._

* * *

As Stiles went back to Scott, his mind was still on Caroline's puppy comment, barely able to keep a clamp on his amusement.  _Oh, she has no idea how accurate that description is… maybe I should crack out the dog bowl again._  He followed to where Scott had gone in the living room, flopping down in one of the couches.

Scott looked at him cautiously. "So… your sister's here." He said, standing in front of him, still in some shock about the whole thing.

"Yep." Stiles replied casually, popping the p, clearly not going to say anything more on the subject despite his friend's obvious curiosity.

"Do you know  _why_  she's here?" Scott asked after a minute, looking down at the other boy expectantly.

"Nope." At this, the werewolf seemed surprised, having expected that his friend would have demanded answers from his sister the moment she arrived, and Stiles felt the sudden need to defend himself and Caroline. "Well, kind of! I think she just missed us." He exclaimed loudly.

Scott was still somewhat doubtful though. "So she drove for two days straight in a school week to come see you? Without calling ahead? Or, you know, planning anything… at all?"

Stiles looked around, away from Scott's incredulous gaze, pausing. "Yeah…" He finally said, though even he could hear the unsure quality in his tone.

"You don't think that's a  _bit_  weird?"

"No, I don't." He replied firmly, though doubt had begun to take hold. A part of him hated Scott for it; for saying what Stiles was secretly thinking… because, as much as he wanted to believe Caroline more than anything, his analytical mind saw the deception of her motives.  _Something_  was going on with her, something that she desperately  _didn't_  want to tell him. And, in all honesty, that hurt him, because if there was one thing that Stiles had always valued in their relationship it was the mutual  _honesty_.

Then again, he couldn't really say much either; after all, he also wasn't able to be completely honest with  _her_  either.  _Maybe I should give it a few days; she's just barely arrived, she'll probably tell me another time…_

_And… And I need to tell her about Scott. About everything. I can't keep it from her. I wish I could, to protect her, but I don't want to_ lose _her… and if I keep lying to her I will._

Decision made, however tentatively, Stiles focused his attention back on Scott, who was currently shifting from foot-to-foot, as if trying to find a way to say something to him.

"It's just…" He began again, clearly referring to Caroline once more.

"What?" Stiles interrupted, slightly impatient; he didn't want to think about the whole honesty problem he was having with his sister, not now when he first let himself realize it.  _But Scott's not just going to let it go; he's going to need to get his doubts or whatever off his chest at some point, might as well get it over with._ "What is it Scott?" He asked, a little more calmly.

"It's just her scent… it was off." The werewolf replied, hesitant.

Stiles' brow furrowed. "What do you mean  _off_?"

"Like… like it wasn't there…"

_No scent? That… that can't be right. Can it?_

_Could it… could it be something supernatural?_

_No…_ No _._

"No,  _no_." He barely noticed as he said the words allowed.

"What's the matter?" Scott took a seat next to him, looking like a concerned parent.

Stiles shook his head, clenching his fists almost angrily. "No, we're not doing this."  _There's no way that Caroline is involved this. None. That hallucination I had was just that, a hallucination. My sister is not that_ thing _._

"You lost me." Scott's words broke Stiles out of his thought rant and the human boy lifted his determined eyes to his friends.

"We are not going to mention the supernatural and Caroline in the same sentence.  _Ever_. Ok? Caroline has  _nothing_  to do with  _any_  of this." Though he started off in a firm tone, it soon dissolved into a panicked one as his thoughts went over what had seen, or been  _shown_ , again and again.  _I can't see her getting hurt like that…_

Despite the almost maniacal way in which his friend was speaking, Scott immediately understood what he wanted from him. Stiles was nothing if not protective of his family and this was something that Scott definitely got; he felt the same. So, he nodded, keeping his voice calm. "Fine, ok, that's fine." He said softly, but when he saw it was doing nothing for Stiles' worry, he looked him in the eye and repeated himself steadily. "It's fine, Stiles."

Finally, he nodded, seemingly reassured. "Good, good."

The rest of the night was pretty quiet, and soon Scott left with a request for his silence on Caroline's presence in Beacon Hills; Stiles didn't want people to know just yet, not after the threat he had received. Still, even after Scott left, the older Stilinski sibling did not feel the same as he did merely hours before. After all, there was no way for his friend to take his doubts back with him.

No, instead they began to grow in Stiles' mind. Even Caroline's first family dinner in more than a year was clouded by their shadow. Whilst the Sheriff and his daughter sat oblivious to Stiles' thoughts, he was going over and over them, finding all the flaws in Caroline's sudden reappearance. He hated it, but he wasn't the type of guy to just ignore these things.

Now that Stiles had given into to doubt, he knew he was going to figure out what was going on with his little sister… eventually.

_Maybe for now though, I can just enjoy having her back… just for a little bit._

And so that's what he did. Or attempted to at least. He spent the next few days going to school absentmindedly (much to the concern and confusion of all of his friends except Scott) and spending his afternoons solely with Caroline. Though he tried his best to simply enjoy what precious time he had with her, his constant curiosity and wondering what she was hiding wore him down. He knew it might be something completely ridiculous and small and that freaking out wouldn't help… and yet, a part of him sensed that it was something much, much bigger than that.

Stiles wasn't sure how much longer he could ignore it, but he did know that when he stopped, things would likely get very messy, very fast.

* * *

Klaus Mikaelson hadn't expected to see Mystic Falls so soon again when he'd first planned to go to New Orleans, but alas here he was. The so-called threat Katherine Pierce had wisely decided to inform him of had been quickly vanquished, thus ending, for now, his business in the city. Oh, he was definitely going to go back, seeing as Marcel had taken control of  _his_  city. But he still had things to conclude in Mystic Falls; he knew he could just arrange to have others bring his and his family's things over by others, but now that they  _finally_  didn't have to run anymore, just leave whatever lives they had created like  _that_  as they had for centuries, Klaus found he didn't want to.

Besides that, there were people ( _person_ , the treacherous corner of him mind betrayed him) that he had to talk to… that he had to say goodbye to.

And so, here he was, back in this godforsaken town, his brother, hounding him like a dog, having followed close behind. They were standing in the Mikaelson Mansion at the very moment, watching as it was emptied of everything they required for their relocation. Klaus studied plans on the table in front of him intensely, making sure everything was being followed to the smallest detail.

"These new rumors are… worrying." Elijah commented needlessly as Klaus pointed a few more workers in the right direction, continuing their earlier conversation. Klaus rolled his eyes.  _So like my brother to bring up the petty wonderings of those below us._

"They are none of our concern, brother." He replied flippantly. Why should they care what the New Orleans witches had to say about things they know nothing about?  _Fools, the lot of them._

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Niklaus. The witches say that such power has not been felt in centuries." The older of the brothers insisted, much to the annoyance of younger one.  _Hearsay and rumors is all the bloody witches have knowledge of, certainly not enough to merit any investigation by the Originals. Besides we have heard it all before already._

"Yes, yes Silas is all-powerful." Klaus did not let onto his slight fear of the ancient being; he did not like not being the most powerful creature in any capacity.  _I have had enough of this Silas._

Elijah shook his head at his brother's forced offhandness, recognizing it for what it was - alarm. "That's just the thing; it is not coming from  _here_." He corrected, finally getting Klaus' full attention at this statement, the younger Mikaelson's arrogant demeanor becoming somewhat more serious. The hybrid turned to him and gestured for him to continue. Elijah, instead of explain with words, simply pulled a map from under all of Klaus' plans and pointed to the area he meant.

Klaus recognized it immediately, all traces of disinterest disappearing. "Beacon Hills…" He muttered. "Is that not where a clan of the other wolves have gathered? The wolf-men?"

Elijah nodded gravely. "Yes, the Hale pack."

"You know the Hales have never welcomed our kind." Klaus growled, eyes briefly flashing gold.  _Especially after the last time when they wouldn't renew our treaty; when was it? Ten years ago?_

_Regardless, they were imbeciles not seek our assistance and they suffered the consequences of it._

"Perhaps, but it merits looking into." Elijah told him now, breaking through Klaus' vicious thoughts. Barely sparing his brother another glance, the hybrid made to leave, calling his answer over his shoulder.

"I shall think on it… It's quite a bit too soon to be going on another little escapade, don't you think?"

_There are things to do here first. The Hales and their useless little pack can wait._

* * *

Being back in Beacon Hills was… different than Caroline had imagined it would be. It was odd, really, not exactly like stepping into the past but an unfamiliar, modified version of it. She wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to  _act_. And it seemed her family didn't know how to treat her either. Surprisingly though, it wasn't her father who was the worse of the two; it was her brother. Apart from the first day when Stiles had been his usual sarcastic, caring self, he wasn't acting at all like he normally would. Though Caroline could tell he was making an effort, he only seemed half there, his mind clearly occupied elsewhere. She just hoped things would get better with him soon, but… she did have the feeling that something  _more_  was going on with him.

Also, he was absolutely insistent on her staying close to home; she'd barely left the house since she'd arrived. When she'd asked him if she could go to school with him (her protective instincts screamed at her to follow her every morning he left), all she'd heard was harsh, resounding 'no' that was so out of character for Stiles that it stunned Caroline still. He'd apologized after, of course, making roundabout excuses as to why she shouldn't come but it really worried her.

_He_ worried her.

Still, even with her brother's weirder than usual behavior, Caroline had to admit being home was…  _nice_. She really had missed it more than she'd thought. And being around her dad again without a single argument was definitely more than nice. At least there, she had taken a step in the right direction.

Apart from stressing about Stiles and reconnecting with her dad, Caroline had also tried to be productive on the more supernatural side of things. However, thus far she hadn't had much luck. There wasn't any sign of Silas, but there were hints of other… activity.

Still, with Stiles' close supervision, she hadn't had much chance to investigate; eventually, she knew she needed to talk it out and decided she had best call her friends. Elena picked up almost immediately, having clearly been worried about the other vampire after her complete silence for several days. Only after the necessary greetings, reassurances and apologies for not calling sooner did the brunette calm down enough to have a proper conversation.

"How're you feeling?" Caroline asked, referring to Elena's recently regained humanity.  _Not ready to talk about what's happening over here just yet._

Her friend seemed to get the hint. "Good, I guess; trying to get used to being  _me_  again."

"I'm sorry I can't be there to help you."

"Don't worry about it, Care, you have your own things to worry about. How is everyone?"

_Guess I couldn't avoid it too long._ The blonde sighed slightly, suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the past few days. "They're ok. Surprised, and I think a little wary, but ok. I mean, it's a bit weird, especially around Stiles, but I think with a little time, it'll work itself out… I'm mostly just keeping an eye out for now."

"Seen anything yet?" Elena asked.

"Not really…" Caroline paused, wondering how she should explain the instinctual sense she had that there was  _something_  here. "Though I've been getting this feeling."

"What kind of feeling?"

"Like I'm being watched." She whispered, shocking even herself as she finally put a name to what she'd been feeling since her arrival in Beacon Hills.  _Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it._

"Be careful, Caroline, there really could be someone out there." Elena replied instantly, sounding concerned.

"I know, I know. I'll be on my guard." The blonde vowed, before moving on. "There's also something else though."

"What?"

"It's a kind of scent, I've never smelled something like it before. I mean, it's familiar, but not. It's just… odd. I'm going to look into it." Caroline thought back to the scent she'd discovered on her very first day back; that along with her feeling of being watched were her only hints that there was supernatural here. This whole protection mission thing definitely wasn't going as well as she'd planned.  _If only I had more time on my own, or more resources…_

"Are you sure you don't want one of us to go over there and help?" Elena's question seemed to answer her innermost thoughts and doubts, but Caroline found herself refusing the offer anyways.

"It's already suspicious me just being here, I don't think we should bring the entire Mystic Falls gang out here. At least not yet." She replied quietly, partially wishing that she could have her friends, her pseudo-family wither her. But she knew even if they wouldn't bring out suspicion she couldn't ask them to drop everything for her, not with Silas still tormenting Mystic Falls and everything else that went on in that town on a daily basis.

"Look, we'll do what we can from here; research and stuff. I'll get back to you with it soon but  _you_ just promise me you'll be  _careful_." Elena finally said after a long pause, her tone regretful, yet firm.

"I will, Elena." Caroline promised quietly.  _As best I can._

_But I don't I'll have the luxury of being careful for much longer. Something's got to give, and it might be me._

* * *

Elena Gilbert put the phone down with concern, worried about her friend. Caroline seemed to be having more trouble than she was letting on.  _Well then the least I can do is a little research._ She sighed, settling back into her chair as the commotion of the Mystic Grill surrounded her, trying to gather her thoughts and plan what she should do when. Across from her, Bonnie was watching her closely, though her mind seemed far away.

"I hope Care's ok." The witch said distantly.

"Yeah, me too." Elena agreed quietly; it was hard to be without their bubbly blonde companion. "Stiles will look out for her though; he's definitely the protective type." She put in, having gotten the impression from her short encounter with him more than a year ago.  _It was obvious though._ Despite her reassurances, Bonnie looked at her doubtfully. "Plus her dad's the Sheriff; she'd probably better off than us." Her friend still didn't seem convinced so Elena found herself leaning and grabbing her hand comfortingly. "Bonnie, I'm sure she's safe in Beacon Hills."  _She has to be._

Finally Bonnie nodded and decided to try and lighten the mood. "What's with that name anyways?" She asked with a small forced laugh.

Elena scoffed slightly. "Not any worse than  _Mystic Falls_."

This time Bonnie's laugh was sincere. "You got me there."

* * *

On the other side of the Mystic Grill, Klaus Mikaelson sat contemplatively, watching and listening the two girls closely as they continued talking.

_Perhaps Beacon Hills merits more looking into after all._

* * *

As much as Caroline sometimes hated to admit it, a part of her had become animalistic since her turning; and like all animals, she often craved the freedom of the open air and, as she was also a predator, the predator of all predators really, she craved the thrill of the chase as well.

Now, she wasn't Stefan; she would never be able to live off solely an animal diet for any length of time… but the hunt… the hunt she understood the appeal of. It was a release to be allowed to tap into her true nature; one that she normally tried to keep hidden, secret. Caroline liked to think that she had adjusted to vampire life well; she had long since accepted her new self… but even she didn't like to admit to the darker parts that came with this change. And so, in the rare moments she did, it came as a great relief to her.

Which brought her to where she was now, running though the woods that surrounded Beacon Hills with abandon. Considering the stress of the last couple weeks, and of the last few days, she thought she was long overdue for using some of her supernatural abilities, instead of keeping them bound and restrained within her. In short, she needed to release some of her restless energy, lest she let things become more dangerous if she just ignored it.

The blonde let out a whooping laugh as she leapt over a crag, enjoying the sheer freedom of the action. She landed lightly on her feet on the other side, observing the beauty of the nature around her. Briefly, Caroline contemplated going on actual  _hunt_  but she quickly decided against it; she didn't need any unwanted attention,  _at all_ , especially not  _here_  of all places.

_Maybe it's best if I'm quieter too._ It may be the middle of the night, but you can never be too sure about who ( _or what_ , Caroline's mind cautiously added) was in the woods.

So she ran silently through the trees, her image blurring as she gained speed.

And that's it hit her. That scent… That oddly familiar and yet still completely  _un_ familiar scent. The one that had been plaguing her constantly the last few days she'd been here.

The scent of  _wolf_.

Caroline immediately stopped in her tracks, shock and terror sending her mind reeling.

_Could it be? Could there really werewolves in Beacon Hills?_  The vampire shuddered, remembering the utter agony that their bite could cause.  _Never again,_  she vowed.

But no. It wasn't the same scent as that of the werewolves she knew, at least not completely. Caroline was pretty sure that this wasn't any normal wolf but she was also starting to think that this wasn't the type of wolf she was familiar with either.  _This is beyond weird… and considering my life, that's saying something._

Just as she was regaining her sense, her mind whirring through all the possibilities, the blonde heard the fast running footsteps that seemed to belong to the scent. Before she could contemplate the strangeness of it all any more, her instincts screamed at her and made her jump high into one of the trees and hide amongst the foliage.

Barely a few moments later, a figure came crashing through the woods; it didn't pause for even a second, just kept running unnaturally fast until it was once again out of her view. But that bare second of sight she did have was enough for Caroline.

She'd seen what she needed to.

Hairy face, rigid brow, long fangs…  _golden eyes_. From what she could gather, it was some type of wolf-man.

But that wasn't what had held her attention, it was the features of his face that were hidden underneath the monstrous qualities… they were features she recognized.

_Scott._

_Scott McCall._

_He was the wolf._

* * *

Derek Hale knew that caution and secrecy were some of the most important things to every werewolf and supernatural creature out there. Being what he was, he knew that should he live without it, it would only lead to disaster. It would lead hunters to him, amongst other things. Of course, not every supernatural seemed to realize that. His pack, for one, had seemed to struggle with this concept in the past, and that had led to some serious casualties.

And so, more often than not, of late he had found himself hanging around, lurking really. He was patrolling, trying to keep an eye on things amidst his hectic schedule.

Which is how he ended up in the forest, because Scott decided to, once again, go on one of his reckless midnight runs.

_The kid never learns. He's too close to town, he should go deeper… But I guess he wants to avoid the Hale property…_

Frustrated, he followed at a safe distance, both observing Scott's ever-improving techniques and keeping a watchful eye on him. He'd already lost too many of his pack.

It was because of this that he saw something he hadn't expected to see in Beacon Hills ever again. Derek stuck cautiously to the shadows as he observed the blonde blur drop from the tree where she must have been hiding. She seemed bewildered as she stared in the direction that Scott had just run past. Immediately, he was suspicious of her; she wasn't human, that much was clear.

It was the lack of a scent that confirmed it though.

_Vampire._

Derek's eyes began to burn in anger, his fingernails sharpening into monstrous claws. The last time there had been vampires in Beacon Hills, he'd still been a kid… but even had seen the dire consequences they had brought with them.

It only took him a second to realize what he had to do.

He had to take out the threat.

With a deep growl, he flew forward, intent on the vampire's pale throat.

* * *

The darkness of the room was unsettling, only the barest drop of light filtering through, allowing the two occupants a dim view of the other. Not that it mattered much to either of them; to them, the darkness had long since been an ally. It gave them a mask, allowed them to conceal their plans and their combined power.

The younger of the two shivered as she approached the other; she might be powerful, but he was the clear superior of them both. She did not allow herself to betray any of her apprehension however, shifting her once beautiful features to that of her true visage. She turned her disfigured and scarred face away, bowing her head slightly in submissiveness. "Silas. Master." The Darach greeted, her voice hissing somewhat as she forced it through her torn throat.

The shadowy figure before her smirked wickedly, his own face hidden in the recesses of his hood. "Everything is in place; the Stilinski family has been reunited… We must begin."

Shuddering, the Darach nodded. "Yes. Of course."


	4. A Girl Among Wolves

Caroline felt the attack coming only the split second before it actually happened. She felt the sudden and slight change in the pressure of the air around her; she heard the almost silent snap of a twig as a blur jumped towards her, the barest glint of teeth flashing in the filtering light of the moon. Relying on pure instinct, she managed to get her arms up in time to block them, her hands gripping the figure in front of her and flinging him back to bring some distance between them. As soon as she did, her eyes widened at what she saw.

_Another wolf-man. Like Scott._

Same hairy face. Same sharp fangs and claws, same pointed ears.  _The eyes though…_  This man, wolf,  _whatever_ , his eyes were an eerie and haunting  _red_.

The blonde found herself taking a step back, her body automatically shifting into a defensive position, arms out to her side to keep her balance. The scent of wolf went rampant in her nose, her mind whirring as they stared at each other in a silent face-off.

_His scent is similar to the werewolves in Mystic Falls, but also slightly more human. But he is definitely wolf-like. Could there be more than one type of werewolf? It is even_ possible _? There's definitely enough lore out there to suggest that a wolf-man might exist; maybe even more so than one that can transform to the actual animal…_

_Maybe he and Scott are different to_ normal _(well normal to me anyways) werewolves, like the Originals are different to us. Same race, different abilities. Kind of like two different dialects of the same language._

_But if there are different werewolves, and different vampires… is it possible that there are other supernatural creatures? Or even more variances of the ones we already know of?_

_Either way, this guy is_ definitely _a werewolf. The only question I should be asking is whether his bite is lethal to me._

As these thoughts raged through her a thousand miles a minute, another part of her mind focused solely on the wolf-man's movements, or rather lack thereof. So when he did finally make to move forward, she immediately reacted. He jumped at her, his fingers hooked so that they were pointed to her, aiming to slash her throat as a fearsome growl escaped his mouth. Caroline herself let out a harsh hiss, blurring to the side just in time so that he missed her by mere inches.

Her eyes, which had been shifting restlessly from blue to red now decidedly darkened as they filled completely with blood.  _He wants a fight… Well, he'll get one._  Her fangs grew from her mouth, protruding slightly over her lip. She smiled at him wickedly as she turned back to face him, darting forward and slamming into him painfully; she managed to get him to his knees, twisting his arm behind in one practiced move, ready to break it.

But she made a fatal mistake. Despite all her thoughts on the differences between this wolf-man and the werewolves she knew, she hadn't factored in the possibility of extra strength. The wolf-man suddenly surged forward, forcibly yanking himself from her grip, flipping gracefully before swiping her legs from under her.

Caroline hit the floor hard, winded, rocks digging painfully back into ribcage. She only allowed her to be disoriented for the briefest moment, knowing that any second she was unprepared was an opening for an attack, maybe even a fatal one. She forced herself to her feet as quickly as possible, the world around her swaying. But she refused to show how his hit had affected her.  _Any weakness I show will be to his advantage_.

It seemed she got to her feet just in time, as the wolf-man launched another attack at her, flipping into a very powerful high kick. She narrowly managed to get him to miss her head, but he still caught her hard in the shoulder, sending her flying into a tree. She tried her best to twist in such a way that the crash would do the least amount of damage. Unfortunately, she was still severely weakened from the two hits she'd only just suffered; she was unable to turn in time and took full brunt of the fling to her face and hands, not raising them enough to block herself. She heard a sickening crunch and a blinding pain ached through her skull, originating from her nose. She got up, groaning, lifting a hand to wipe away some of the wetness that dripped onto her lips, her fingers getting stained red.

She glared at the wolf-man, rage rising through her veins through the cloudiness of her mind. "You  _broke_  my  _nose_. You  _bastard_." She shrieked, flying forward.  _I've had enough this guy._ She finally seemed to gain the upper hand, surprising him with her enraged assault, but not allowing herself to get clumsy in her attacks. But even despite his surprise, the man was  _good_ , blocking her furious swipes at him with unhindered efficiency.

_I need to take him down right now. If we keep going like this I won't last._ She now cursed herself for wanting to go on a hunt, having not had any blood since yesterday.  _I'm too weak for this right now._

She didn't know what to do, her body tiring and the wolf-man's teeth getting dangerously closer to her.

And then a thought hit her.

_What would Dad do? What would_ Stiles _do?_

The answer was simple.

_Use your head._

Her gaze sharpened, and everything came into focus.  _So far I've been attacking like a vampire would, all fangs and quick power._ And this wolf-man very obviously knew how to battle a vampire; she didn't want to find out how he had learned. But all Caroline knew was that she had to change up tactics if she wanted to make out of here intact.

_Just think, damn it, think!_  She grunted as she was thrown back slightly when one of his kicks managed to make it through her defenses and hit her in the thigh.

And then she spotted her solution and a small smirk played at her lips. And so when the wolf-man brought his clawed hand forward, swinging it straight in the direction of her throat, Caroline dropped down, ducking under his arm and tucking herself into a roll. At a safe distance, she quickly grabbed the thick broken branch she had spotted lying on the forest floor (which had likely broken off as a result of her flying into the tree again… and again).

The next moment seemed to go in slow motion, as she stood up, branch held firmly in her two hands, the wolf-man turning to face her, momentarily delayed, surprised that she slipped so easily by him and hadn't gone for the attack as a vampire normally would. She saw his fearsome red eyes glaring at her and swung the branch like a bat, crushing it into his temple with all the waning force she could muster. His head snapped to the side at the blow, knocking him instantly unconscious.

She stumbled, whatever energy she had left beginning to drain out of her, but smiled slightly in triumph.

_Dad's obsession with baseball actually paid off._

Despite her exhaustion, she kept herself upright, knowing she had to get away from the wolf-man.  _He won't be unconscious forever._  And so she forced herself to begin the trek home, putting as much as her vampire speed in her run as she could. When she finally saw the familiar outside of her house, she almost collapsed in relief. Any other moment, she would have used her supernatural strength to jump into her window on the second floor, but as it was, she was simply too exhausted. She risked the front door.

As she entered the hallway, she stopped to glance at herself in the windowpane, cursing as she noted the blood still dripping slowly from her broken nose.  _Not healing as fast as I normally would. Need blood._

She quickly covered her nose with her hand, desperately trying to quell the bleeding as she dashed up the stairs. Breathing heavily, the world around her getting more and more hazy, she slammed her bedroom door shut, locking it. She immediately fell to her knees, pulling out the freezer box that had remained hidden in her closet. Her hands shook as she tried to open the lid, struggling.

Finally,  _finally_ , she was able to grab a blood bag, literally ripping into it with her teeth to get as much blood in her as fast as she could, having felt the stiffness her own loss of blood was beginning to cause in her limbs. She nearly moaned as the liquid entered her mouth, quenching her ravenous thirst.

She drained it quickly and went for another to get her fill, about to bite into it when a sudden knock on her door made her freeze in utter terror.

"Care! Are you ok in there?" Stiles' voice came a moment later.  _Shit. Shitshitshit._ Immediately Caroline slammed the freezer box closed, the blood bag placed haphazardly back in it, kicking it into her closet and dumping some clothes on it.

"M'fine, Stiles!" She yelled back, her voice muffled by the hand that was still held to her face. The only blessing of the situation was that her various wounds had finally begun to heal.

"You sure? I saw you running up the stairs… and there was some blood on the bannister."  _Of course Stiles would notice tiny drops of blood,_ she thought, annoyed for once at her brother's innate intelligence and curiosity. She heard him start to rattle her doorknob.

"Just a second." She yelled back, scrambling into her bathroom. She hissed out a long string of curses when she saw her reflection in the mirror.  _How the hell am I supposed to let Stiles in looking like this?_  There was dried blood all over her mouth, her nose still red as it slowly set. Her eyes moved down, wincing as she saw the various tears in her shirt and sweater, noticing for the first time a deep gash at her side. Luckily, the skin was already knitting together.

Further rattling of the doorknob shook Caroline out of her stupor, and she sprung into action. She ripped off her ruined clothes, shoving them in the rickety cabinet under her sink, and then quickly tugging on her pyjamas. She grabbed a towel by her sink, wiping some of the blood off her chin, before holding it to her nose and heading to the door.

She went to open the door hurriedly after one final glance around her room.  _Best I can do_. Quickly pulling it open, the towel still held to her face, Stiles almost fell into her, unprepared for the suddenness of the door opening before him. He managed to keep his feet ( _for once_ ) and he gaped at his sister when he noticed the blood-soaked towel she held in her hand.

" _Jesus_ , what happened?" He asked, his hands immediately fluttering about her, trying to find some way to help her.

"It's just a nosebleed." She claimed, hoping fervently he would just  _believe_  the rather desperate plan she'd come up with in the past two seconds.  _I don't think I'm ready to my brother that his best friend is a werewolf… and that another attacked me…. And that I'm… I'm…_ She cursed herself again, lamenting about not checking the house for other occupants.  _I'm so used to Aunt Liz knowing about what I am that I've become careless._

Meanwhile, Stiles' worried face took a completely incredulous and disbelieving quality. "A  _nose_ bleed?" He asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

_Please let my nose be healed. Please let my nose be healed._

"Yes." She swallowed, pulling the towel away from her face. "See?" She watched his face closely as he peered at her uncovered nose, her heart beating sporadically in her chest as she watched for signs of disbelief.

"That's one heavy nosebleed." He finally said grimly and she almost collapsed in relief.  _It felt healed but I guess it must loo_ k  _like it too, thank God._ "Why would you lock your door, though?"

Inside she was crying curses at the natural Stilinski curiosity and suspicion the siblings shared, though her wit did save her. "A girl needs her privacy." She replied snappily, trying not to show her nervousness.

Stiles gave her a look. "Care, you look like you were just in a low budget slasher movie."

" _Sorry_." She intoned sarcastically.  _Not my fault I was practically in one_.

He rolled his eyes, moving forward to grab the hand that held the towel, shifting both their hands back over her nose gently. "Look, I'll get you an icepack ok." He told her before his voice became oddly firm. "Just  _don't_  move that towel."

"What? You going to faint?" Caroline teased, reminded of her brother's aversion to all things blood and bone. She was more relaxed now that Stiles seemed to believe her lie.  _Or he's just letting this one go. I'm just glad he didn't see my clothes; there's no way I would have been able to get away with this if_ that _had had happened._

_God, I wish I didn't have to lie to him._

_But it's for his own good._

" _Just_ keep it  _on_ , will you?" He said with frustration, punctuating his command with sporadic hand movements.

Caroline finally gave in, holding the towel more firmly to her face. "Ok, ok."

Stiles lingered for a moment, seemingly unsure, his eyes betraying a hint of curiosity and strangely enough, sadness, like he knew she wasn't telling him the whole truth. And for a moment, but only the slightest moment, Caroline wished he would ask, wished he would push her into telling him what really happened. Because a large part of her wanted to able to confide in her brother as she had always done when they were younger. Because she wanted to have her partner in crime again. Because she just wanted her brother.

But she couldn't tell him… She  _wouldn't_.

_I'll put him in danger… even more so than he already is… And… and what if he turns away from me?_

Caroline didn't think she would be able to take it. Especially after Uncle Bill's reaction.

So, she didn't stop Stiles when he finally turned and walked out the door.

* * *

"There's a supernatural presence here. I'm sure of it now." Caroline said into her phone from her position lying on her bed.  _Looks like it was good that I came back to Beacon Hills after all_. Stiles hadn't bothered her since delivering the ice pack and her dad had come in a while ago, having just returned from his shift at the Sheriff's station, wishing her a goodnight before he himself went to bed. Knowing she had to let everyone in Mystic Falls know about her progress, and the  _wolf-men_ , she'd decided to take the time to quickly call Bonnie.

"What? What happened?" The witch's voice filtered through her phone now, conveying worry.

"Well, I was out for a run and…." Caroline started, explaining the presence of the wolf-men as best she could. She talked about how Scott was one of them, and how the other attacked her. She talked of their eye colors, their weird facial features and the possibility of a poisonous bite. Then she went on to talk about her near-reveal with Stiles and how she was beginning to think he might know more than he'd let on.

Bonnie was silent for a moment and the vampire could just imagine the shocked look on her friend's face. "Wow. That's… well ok then." She muttered, and Caroline then heard some riffling in the background, as if she was looking through some papers. "I'm actually not surprised there's something supernatural going there." She said through the noise. "After you left I went through some journals my Grams left behind. There was just something about Beacon Hills that was bothering me, like I'd seen the name before. And I did. Apparently there's an old family of witches around there, though they're called emissaries. They advise wolf packs, but…"

Realization dawned, and Caroline finished for her. "But not the kind of werewolf we're used to."

"Exactly." Bonnie sounded grim. "At first I thought the description was wrong, but it does sound like these wolf-men you saw."

The vampire sighed.  _Well that confirms it then, definitely werewolves… but how is Stiles involved? And Silas?_   _Not to mention Scott… he just seems like the least werewolfy person I've met…_ "I just can't believe Scott could be one." Caroline voiced her thoughts. "I mean aren't werewolves supposed to have a natural aggression from childhood? I've known him for ages; I mean he's practically a second brother to me! And I've never seen him anything less than calm. I mean he works with animals!" It was true of course; Scott McCall was a kind soul, he truly cared for others and it showed. The thought of him being a 'wolf just confused her.

"Unless these werewolves aren't  _born_  like ours. Their curse is probably just as different as their shift." Bonnie said now, her voice wondering.

"That… could be true. Disturbing, but true." At that moment Caroline really wished she could be back in Mystic Falls so she could talk it over with everyone face-to-face. Heck, she'd even put up with Damon for it.  _God, what if you can make werewolves like you make vampires?_

_Is that what happened to Scott?_

Remembering the horror at her own transformation, she shuddered, hating the idea that someone as undeniably  _good_  as Scott had to go through something like that.

"Anyways, I looked up the emissary family name in Beacon Hills and it looks like they still exist." Bonnie continued over the phone. "There's an Alan Deaton close to you. Maybe you should talk to him? Tell him you were sent by the Bennet family, that should get you through."

"Ok. I'll get back to you about it. Will you tell the others?"  _I really hope I get some answers._

"Yeah, I'm at the Salvatore house right now, they heard everything already."  _One pro to being a vampire I guess; supernatural hearing._ "Hold on a sec, Stefan wants to talk to you. Hey, Care, I'll call back some other time. But be careful." The vampire was touched by her friend's worried tone. Her and Bonnie had definitely had their troubles in the past; especially concerning their respective supernatural heritages, so to hear her want reassurance about her safety involving it comforted her.  _Even if your family finds about you, even if they shun you for it, you will still have your friends._

She swallowed harshly, suddenly overcome. "I will be." She then heard the phone be switched over and after initial greetings, Stefan immediately advised her to be cautious, worried about her revealing herself and therefore endangering her and everyone around her. He knew only too well what the vampire secret could do to those around you.

"Care, I think maybe you should rest first. Recuperate." He said, referring to the injuries she'd sustained thanks to the wolf-man _._  "Try and throw suspicion off yourself for a while before you head back into the supernatural community. You don't want the danger to fall back on your family."

She cursed silently at the logic in his words. She really wanted nothing more than to figure out what was going on… and here Stefan was saying she should  _wait._

_But this Deaton guy could have the answers I need… how am I supposed to_ not  _go looking for him._

_But what if you do and Stiles and Dad get hurt because of you,_ another part of her mind whispered.

_Looks like I'm stuck. Guess I'll have to wait._

"So what… be a normal teenage girl?" She asked Stefan, obviously not liking this plan but understanding the necessity of it.

"Yes. Exactly. But don't worry; I'm sure you won't have to keep it up for too long. Just enough so that you can look into the whole werewolf problem without suspicion falling on you." He paused as if hesitating. Caroline knew immediately that he wanted to ask her if she was  _sure_  that she didn't need help from them, that she didn't them there with her.

_I can't put more people I love in danger._

"Ok. I'll try. Thanks, Stef." She said quickly, not giving her friend a chance to ask the question weighing on his mind.

He sighed, knowing she'd deliberately intercepted him, but he decided to let it go. "No problem. Talk soon."

Caroline quickly hung up, throwing her phone beside her on the bed. Though the call still left her with a lot of questions, if not even more than before, at least now she had a plan of action… sort of.

_I just hope everything will work out in my favor for once. The last thing I want is for Dad or Stiles to find out about what's really going on this town… if they don't know already._

* * *

Scott dashed through the halls of his workplace, going immediately to the surgery room where he knew the man who'd called him would be waiting for him. He'd only been home a few moments after his run when he'd received the urgent texts that had him jumping back out of bed and sprinting here as fast as possible.

"Derek? What the hell's going on? It's past midnight and I have school tomorrow. And why would you tell me to go to work?" The questions flew past Scott's lips as he entered the room, eyes widening momentarily when he saw the injuries the alpha had sustained, slowly healing.

"Because I need Deaton to help me explain this to you." He said lowly as the vet appeared behind Scott, nearly causing the beta to jump up in surprise. Deaton went forward and pressed some anti-septic to one of Derek's wounds, the alpha letting out an angry growl at the pain.

"Explain what?" Scott finally asked, gaze roving both of the men's faces, finding their grim expressions unsettling. They looked to each other, as if deciding something, when Deaton nodded.

Finally, Derek looked back to the beta, eyes firm and began to explain what had happened to him, and why it was important. When he was finished, Scott looked at him, open-mouthed and disbelieving. He really hadn't thought this would be happening, that this was in their realm of possibility.  _I mean, wouldn't I have known something about it before now? Heard something?_

But he hadn't, and he was in complete shock.

" _Vampires?_ " He asked for confirmation, incredulous.

"Yes, Scott, vampires." Derek nodded, somewhat annoyed by the doubt he was sensing from the beta.

"Vampires  _exist_?" He checked again regardless.

This time Deaton stepped in. "It's true."

"Why haven't we run into them before?"

"In most folklore and legend, you'll find that werewolves and vampires are sworn enemies; the same is true in reality." The emissary explained patiently, leaning against the surgical table. "Finding them together in one territory is very rare, it causes too much conflict. Besides that, there aren't many vampires that know of the existence of werewolves after they were driven to near extinction. Your friend's family here holds one of the oldest still living werewolf legacies." Deaton glanced at Derek, who remained stoically silent.

"Werewolves were nearly extinct? Why? How?" Scott asked now, still fighting against the idea of  _vampires_.

"Because one of the few things that is lethal to a vampire is the bite of a werewolf. So they hunted us all down. My family would've been slaughtered as well if we hadn't made the deal." The alpha replied, glaring angrily at the ground, arms crossed over his bare chest.

Scott's brow furrowed in confusion. "Deal?"

"With the Originals, the first vampires. As vampires age they grow more powerful, and these are the oldest. I don't know the particulars of the deal but I do know my mom… she was terrified of ever breaking it." Derek replied heavily, meeting the beta's gaze firmly.

_That… sounds not good in every way._ "Did you ever see them, these Originals?" He asked, hesitant.

"I would doubt it. The Original family is not known for their leniency… if they have been here recently they would have left a trail of blood." Deaton said, almost as if he were thinking out loud.  _These Originals are sounding worse and worse by the second._

Derek shook his head though. "I do remember something. It must've been more than ten years ago but there were definitely a couple vampires that came by. They didn't kill any of our pack but they did take an entire neighboring pack out…" He seemed to be gone in long past memories. "They had this scent, like it wasn't there at all, almost like natural camouflage… it's why I was able to identify the one today."

Scott backtracked. "Wait, wait, you ran into an  _Original_  today?" He asked, now immensely worried; they seemed to be more than dangerous. His earlier explanation of his run in certainly hadn't included that little detail.

The alpha shook his head. "No, just a normal vampire, I think. But she seemed quite skilled, if young."

Momentarily relieved, the beta let out a slight sigh, before one of Derek's words continued to niggle in his mind, like it was trying to remind him of something.  _"She_?"

"Yeah, she looked like a normal, blonde teenager until she grew fangs." He shrugged.

_Normal blonde teenage girl. No scent. Fangs. Vampire._ The words all rang through Scott's mind, swirling around, trying to reveal something to him.

_Blond teenage girl. No scent. Fangs. Vampire._

_Blonde girl. No scent. Vampire._

_Blonde…_

_Caroline. Vampire._

"Oh God." Scott let out, horrified.  _It couldn't be, could it?_ But it made sense,  _perfect_ sense. It could explain everything.

_God, how am I ever supposed to tell Stiles?_

"What?" Derek asked, curious at Scott's reaction.

He swallowed, his gaze drifting to Deaton briefly before flicking back to the werewolf in front of him. "I think…" He hesitated, but continued anyways, feeling the truth of his suspicions. "I think I might know who this vampire is."

* * *

_It has been a tough couple days_ , Stiles couldn't help but thinking as he entered the school building. He walked silently through depressingly white hallways, making his way easily to his locker. He started putting his combination into the lock, messing up halfway through due to his distraction. Sighing harshly, he tried again.

It really wasn't his fault that his mind wasn't with him today. Beacon Hills was once again in a state of panic. Just last night two doctors had been brutally murdered with a third 'healer' unquestionably on the way. It worried Stiles, especially considering each murder seemed to hit closer and closer to home. Who only knew what would happen next? Who would  _die_  next?  _I only hope it's not Melissa, she definitely fits the definition of 'healer'._

And there was the matter of Scott. He'd been acting really weird the last couple of days. He could barely look Stiles in the eyes, which confused him greatly. He could only hope that his werewolf friend would spill whatever was bothering him soon. Until then, Stiles would give him his silent support with whatever was happening to him.

Finally getting his locker open, he unceremoniously yanked out the books he needed, leaving the inside in even more of a mess. Stiles found he really couldn't care. He turned to go to class, only to find someone waiting for him, a hand at her hips as she watched him in expectation.

"Stiles." She said, flicking her strawberry blonde hair over one shoulder.

"Lydia. Do you need something?" He replied, managing to stifle the groan of annoyance he'd felt coming.  _Why now? I spent years wanting nothing more than to talk to her and then when I need figure out things on my own, she won't leave me alone…_  Still, though a part of him was frustrated, another part of him was oddly comforted by the fact that she seemed to be actually concerned for him.

Something flicked across Lydia's face, not expecting his curt answer. She recovered quickly though. "Well, yeah, we need to talk."

"Talk?" He replied, aloofly.

Her eyes narrowed, immediately catching on to what he was trying to do. "We really have to figure this… thing." She continued, keeping her gaze carefully on him.

Stiles tried again, really not wanting to think back to that horrible night at the hotel, let alone  _talk_  about it. "Thing?"

"Don't play dumb, it suits you even less than that shirt you're wearing." Lydia hissed.

"What's wrong with my shirt?" He immediately asked in exclamation.  _I like this shirt_ , he thought, rather pettily.

She raised a perfect brow. "Apart from the fact that it clashes horribly with your undershirt? Nothing." Rolling her eyes once, her face took a more serious expression as she lowered her voice, not wanting to be overheard. "But that's beside the point. We need to figure out what happened at the motel."

He sighed quietly, giving in, aware that she wouldn't let it go easily. He took her arm, propelling her forward to get to a more private area.  _Don't want people thinking we're any crazier than they already do._  "I know. I know. Look, I promise we'll work it out, ok?" He said sincerely, knowing that their visions were worrying Lydia more than she probably let on. "Just… can we wait a bit?" He tried to think of an excuse, and came up something that was actually rooted in truth. "I have some things I have to figure out at home first…"  _Need to know what's going with Care…_

"I  _have_  waited!" Lydia exclaimed, frustrated. "What's so important at home that we can't have a simple conversation?"

Stiles stepped back, crossing his arms. "Well, if you really have to know, my little sister came back to town and I thought I'd spend some time with her seeing as it's been more than a year since she's been with us."

She seemed confused by this. "Your sister?"

"Yeah, you might remember her if you hadn't, you know, ignored me for the first, I don't know, fifteen years of my life." He put in sarcastically.

"How come you haven't seen her?" She asked, dropping the tough façade she tended to wear around him public, revealing more of her true personality. She looked honestly concerned.

He sighed, running a hand over his face tiredly. "Caroline doesn't live here, anymore, not since... She lives in California with our aunt."

Lydia looked at him sympathetically, knowing what caused his pause, until something occurred to her. "Wait.  _Caroline_? Stiles, was what you saw about her? You were screaming her name when I found you." She told him fervently, green eyes alighting in realization, remembering how she'd pulled him out of the hallucination.

Stiles winced internally.  _Now you've done it. She'll never let it go now._

"Lydia… I can't." He almost pleaded. He didn't want to talk about it yet. He needed to figure out what it meant on his own first.

For a moment he was sure she was going to keep pushing, but as her eyes scanned his face, he could have sworn they grew the slightest bit softer. To his ever-living surprise, she stepped back. "Ok. Fine." She said quietly, before her words sharpened. "But mark my words we  _are_  going to talk."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." He cracked a smile.

The bell rang, signaling the start of class but before Lydia left, she turned back to him. "Look, Stiles…. Whatever it is, whatever's going on with your sister… maybe I can help." She told him quietly, sincerely.

"You?" He asked, incredulous and utterly surprised. He was well aware that Lydia was slowly warming up to him and his friends but to so openly offer her help was not something he had expected.

She took his question the wrong way and looked offended. "Every girl needs female company at times." She defended harshly.

Stiles nodded, squeezing her shoulder once. "I'll think about it. Thanks, Lydia."

"Don't mention it…" Her eyes flicked threateningly to his face. "Seriously, though Stiles,  _don't_." She reiterated before turning and walking off with her usual Lydia Martin flair. Stiles shook his head, still surprised, but pleasantly so, and walked to his own class.

_Maybe today won't be as bad as yesterday._

* * *

_I really couldn't have been more wrong,_ Stiles later thought. He sighed heavily as he glanced back out the window of the door of the storage room he and Scott were currently in, his eyes focused solely on his dad. After learning that Deaton had been kidnapped, or as he himself had put it,  _taken_ , from his friend, he'd immediately contacted his father before following to the vet's office. There they'd talked some to the Sheriff but they were limited in what they could say due to his lack of knowledge of the supernatural…. And of course Scott noticed this as well. Hence the storage closet… and the heavy conversation they'd just had.

"You're right." Scott said now, referring to his adamant protests against telling his dad about what was really going on in his beloved town.

Stiles was silent for a long moment as he continued to think it through, finding more and more that telling the Sheriff was actually probably a good idea… He sighed and shook his head. "No I'm not. I'm not right. I'll tell him." He said quietly before moving to the door, knowing that if he didn't do this right now, it was likely he wouldn't find the courage to do so again.

A hand on his arm stopped him and he looked back to Scott curiously. "I'll help you… But Stiles… I have to tell you something else." The werewolf said.

_I knew it couldn't be just Deaton… he's been acting weird even before he disappeared._ He and Scott had been friends since the sandbox; Stiles could always tell when he was hiding something from him. And he knew it must be serious to be weighing  _this_  heavily on him; especially if it was so bad he wasn't sure how he should tell  _Stiles_.

The human turned fully to his friend, gesturing for him to continue.

Scott seemed to take a deep breath. "It's about Caroline."

Immediately all willingness Stiles had to listen disappeared. "Not this again." He shook his head and went back to the door, only to have Scott stop him once more.

"We need to talk about it." The beta insisted. "Something's off… and I think I might know what it is. Look, I went to Deaton's yesterday after Derek asked me to-"

"After  _Derek_  asked you?" Stiles interrupted, incredulous. "You do realize that doing anything with Derek has been historically  _not_  good, right? Why would trust him now?"

"Look, him and Deaton… they told me some pretty incredible, kinda scary stuff… and I believe them."

Stiles crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Alright then, wow me."

"They told me about vampires… and the fact that they're actually real."

His response was immediate, uncharacteristic disbelief in his voice. "What?  _Vampires_? Oh you have  _got_  to be  _kidding_  me! I'm not there for one little wolf meeting and suddenly we're in Twilight? What the hell? And what does this have to do with Caroline?"

Scott hesitated, clearly not wanting to say what he was about to. But he did anyways. "Well, we kind of think that she's, you know, one of them."

Stiles' heart stopped in his chest, his mind flashing back to that awful, twisted image Caroline, fangs at her lips, blood-covered.  _This… cannot be happening._

Distantly, he heard himself ask, wanting another answer, any other answer. "Them?"

"A vampire." Scott repeated quietly, seeing the struggle his friend was going through.

Slowly as Stiles' panicked thoughts got back to him, he began to violently protest against the idea, refusing to accept it. "No. No, no way. My little sister, who literally cannot hurt a fly, is  _not_  a vampire. If they even  _exist_!"

"Just hear me out.  _Please_." The werewolf pleaded with him, looking at him with sincere eyes. Stiles' outright refusal died at his lips and he sighed.

" _Fine._  But this is still ridiculous… and not true." He punctuated his statement with a hand movement, trying to make the doubt in his voice disappear.

But Scott seemed to hear anyways, and he told him everything. About how Derek had been in the forest when he came across a blond teenage girl and he immediately recognized the scent of vampire, which Scott said was almost like it wasn't there at all; similar to how Scott had described it before when he'd run into Caroline. How there haven't been any vampires in Beacon Hills for at least a decade and what a strange 'coincidence' it was to have Caroline come back and suddenly there was one that sounded a  _lot_  like her. How vampires and werewolves were natural enemies… How dangerous vampires were… How Caroline could be in danger if she was one… Worse, how  _she_  could be a danger to  _them_.

Finally, Scott trailed to a stop. "Do you see now?"

Stiles, who had been listening in silence, eyes to the ground raised his gaze to his friend again. "What I see is that you heard blonde teenager and immediately thought Caroline. That's not evidence, Scott; it's coincidence." He said, though they could both tell he was saying it more to convince himself than anything.

"I thought you don't believe in coincidence." Scott gently reminded.

"It's not true, Scott, ok. End of discussion." The bite of his words lost their effect with his wearied tone.

"Stiles, let's at least-"

"No. Just no. Please, Scott… just let it go. Let me have this one, ok? I just… I can't handle thinking that Caroline is not human… I just can't." Even Stiles himself could hear his desperation to just  _stay in the dark_  for once.  _This is too much for one day… Maybe having to tell Dad everything… and then to have Caroline be part of that everything. I can't do this._

Scott gave him a considering look, before he nodded and backed down, knowing he shouldn't push anymore. "Ok. Fine." He nodded.

"Thanks, man." He sighed in relief, turning for the final time to the door.

"No problem. But, Stiles…"

He paused, before glancing back at the beta for a brief moment, nodding in understanding. "I know. I'll be fine. And… as much as I hate it, I'll keep my eyes open. For now, though, we should get back out there." Scott seemed to accept this and moved to join Stiles at his side.

It was going to be difficult trying to tell his dad about everything in Beacon Hills, it was even more difficult to consider that Caroline was a vampire… but at least he had Scott, and his friends to help him out. With that in mind, they both finally exited the storage room, ready to face the Sheriff.

Of course, when they ran into Ms. Morell (who was apparently Deaton's  _sister_ ) and thus allowing them to avoid the confrontation they had prepared for, Stiles was extremely relieved.  _One problem off my plate for now._

But there was still another big that plagued his mind.

_Caroline._

* * *

Caroline sat quietly in the living room, her mind only half on the TV in front of her, the sound going straight over head. She was worried. Her dad and Stiles hadn't been home all day, despite both claiming they'd be back by the time school finished for the day. She'd gotten a text earlier from Stiles, claiming that he had some study group to go to… but nothing yet from the Sheriff, even though she'd texted a few times. She assumed it was work stuff but couldn't stop her concern; there were werewolves in Beacon Hills. Strong ones. What if her family got caught in the crossfire?

Not to mention whatever Silas was up to.

She shivered, her mind drifting back to that memory of twisted Stiles.  _But it wasn't Stiles and you know it. Scott may be a werewolf but that doesn't mean Stiles knows anything about the supernatural._

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she heard the telltale sound of the front door opening. She dashed there, letting out a relieved breath when she saw Stiles walking in.

"Good, you're back." She said as she approached him, trying to look like she wasn't going out of her mind with worry. "Where's Dad? I thought he had the early shift today but I haven't seen him since this morning."

Her brother headed towards the kitchen, almost wearily, as he reached into a cabinet and pulled out a couple of glasses, pouring them some water. Caroline followed him closely, clearly still awaiting an answer. "He did but, uh, you know the murders?" She nodded, it had been on the news all day.  _Those poor doctors_. "Well, there was almost another one today." He explained tiredly as he turned back to her, taking a large gulp of his water.

" _What_?"

"Yeah, Scott's boss, the vet, Dr. Deaton, he went missing; the murderer kidnapped him. Dad found him, he's processing everything now."

"Wait, Alan Deaton?" She backpedaled.  _This can't be a coincidence._

Stiles looked at her curiously. "Yeah, how did you know that?" There was a note of suspicion in his voice.

"Nothing, nothing." She insisted immediately, turning away and hoping he would just accept her answer.  _I don't even know what to make of this._

Stiles of course, couldn't let it be. "Care…" He said cautiously, almost warningly as he put a hand on her shoulder to make her face him again.

She sighed but gave in, knowing that if she told him some of the truth it might keep him off her case while she figured out what to do. "Well, my friend Bonnie, she called me a couple days ago, said she had some… family in the neighborhood." She nearly winced at her hesitation at how to classify Bonnie and this Deaton guy.  _Bonnie always tells me witches are all connected, it's not really a lie._

"And it was Deaton?" Stiles asked with a raised brow, surprise in his gaze.

"Yeah."

He let out a sigh, dropping his hand from her shoulder, lifting his other to rub tiredly over his face. "Damn. I'm sorry. You ok? Must be quite a shock for you." He muttered, finally lifting his eyes back to hers.

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Are you though?" The question was sincere. Stiles was decidedly off today, or even more off than he had been the past week. He looked exhausted, bags under his eyes… but more than that, he looked so  _sad_ , as if he was carrying a huge burden all on his own.

"I'm ok. It's just been a really long day." His answer was hesitant, as if he couldn't think of what to say to explain his behavior. Caroline immediately realized he was lying to her, knowing there was something deeper causing his melancholy.  _Look at the two of us_ , she thought sadly _, lying to each other._ But she couldn't be mad at him for it. After all, she was pretty sure her secrets were much bigger than his.

_Still, maybe he knows more than I thought before._

Not wanting to think too much about that possibility, she reached forward and placed a hand on her brother's forearm, wanting to offer some comfort. "Stiles? You know whatever it is, you can tell me right?" She told him quietly, in an almost motherly way.

If anything, her words had the opposite effect than the one intended, his eyes growing even darker with sadness, as if knowing that he actually  _couldn't_. But he didn't say it, instead nodding. "Yeah." He placed his hand over hers and squeezed once. "Same goes for you."

She smiled lightly in answer trying to cover up the sudden thick feeling in her throat, the sting in her eyes, and took her hand from his, letting it drop to her side.

They stood in silence for a while, both wondering about the other, caught up in their lies that were clogging up the air between them.

Unable to take it any longer, and against her better judgment, Caroline opened her mouth. "Stiles." She began, hesitantly. His gaze met her curiously, waiting for her to continue. "I know things have been a bit weird lately between us and that we haven't really  _talked_ but… I hope you know I'll always be your sister, and I'll always love you, ok?"

Stiles looked her silently for a moment, uncharacteristically pensive. Finally, he simply smiled, this look much more genuine and something in it seemed to be trying to tell her something.  _It's almost like he knows about me… about what I am…_

_No, no, he can't. He doesn't._

He reached forward for her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "I know, Care. I love you too. That'll never change… even if you tend to be abusive with me…" Caroline laughed into her brother's chest, feeling immensely comforted and allowing her worries about Silas, about her secret, about  _everything_ , to just drift away. She didn't allow herself the luxury for too long, knowing that if she gave in, she'd spill everything. She pulled away, quickly wiping away the single tear that had managed to get past her defenses.

"Most of the time you deserve it, Stiles, and you know it. Besides, I've got to establish my control over you somehow." She replied, happily changing the subject.

He rolled his eyes. "So now that this chick flick moment's over, how about we watch a movie? It's been too long since we've had a Star Wars marathon." Stiles said already dragging her along by the elbow into the living room.

"Has Scott seen it finally?" She asked curiously as she allowed him pull her forward.

"No." He scoffed. "Sometimes I wonder why we're even friends."

"Probably because he's the only one who doesn't want to strangle you on a daily basis."

" _Haha_ , thanks. Really. Feeling the familial love." Stiles replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Don't you have homework to do?" Caroline asked in reply, raising a brow his way.

He shot her an uncomprehending look. "Homework? Never heard of it."

"Stiles…" She said warningly.  _Always the ten-year-old I swear. How is he the older sibling?_

"Come on, Care, live a little."

" _Fine_ , but only one ok?" She gave in, knowing that protesting was useless. "You do realize I'll be the one Dad blames if he finds out we're watching a movie and you haven't even done your work. I'm the 'responsible one' after all." She said, air quotes and all.

"That's only because you're little miss perfect. Why couldn't you have been prone to teenage acts of delinquency? Make me look once in a while." Stiles muttered as he rifled through their DVD cabinet, Caroline already reclining in the couch.

"Yes, Stiles. I'll be sure to crash my car just to make you look good." She told him in a deadpan. "Better yet I'll crash your jeep."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me." She challenged, crossing her arms as he joined her in the sofa.

"On second thought, maybe not." Stiles said after a moment, reaching forward and tossing her one of the blankets they had hanging on the side rest.

She laughed, snuggling under it as Stiles pulled the other one over himself, before switching the movie on. They collapsed into comfortable silence both knew wouldn't last.

* * *

Stiles sighed as the end credits rolled. It had been so nice to just let go and pretend everything was normal. But it definitely wasn't. He wasn't lying when he told Caroline today had been a long day, he just couldn't tell her what was making it one. First the whole thing with Deaton, then Scott convincing him to tell his dad and telling him about the vampire issue… and then Boyd. Stiles swallowed harshly; it was still hard to believe that Boyd was actually gone, thanks to the Alpha Pack. He and the werewolf were never the greatest of friends… but he was a familiar face in school, one he was used to seeing since his early childhood years.  _So much death lately._ Stiles could only hope that nothing happened to those close to him, though he knew it was wishful thinking.

He glanced at his side where Caroline lay sleeping, her head against the side of the sofa, body curled into a ball. He smiled at the familiarity of the situation; she always seemed to fall asleep during movies if they started too late, whereas Stiles could never do so. It was one of his sister's many quirks. She hated it though, always complaining of aches after she woke up, and the fact that missed half of whatever movie they had been watching.

Looking at her now, Stiles could have easily put all thoughts of vampirism out of his mind and gone back to believing she was just as human as he was. But he wouldn't.  _I need to know the truth_.

Quietly, he stood up, careful not to disturb his slumbering sister. Before he went upstairs, he gently readjusted the blanket covering her, his mind a swirl of doubt and sadness. He knew what he had to do though… Now was his chance find some answers.

Without looking back, Stiles went upstairs, stopping at the threshold of his sister's room. He glanced around, momentarily conflicted. Now, normally the elder Stilinski sibling had no issue with snooping around, quite the opposite in fact… But he had and Caroline had always trusted each other completely, and searching through her stuff… well that was breaking the unspoken code between them.

_I have to know…_

Sighing heavily, he knew there was really no way around it.  _It's all been leading to this. I have no way to avoid this._  With that thing showing me that vision of Care, her little 'nosebleed', then Scott and his suggestions… Stiles could not stop his mind from suspecting as well. Hell, he'd even researched to try and assuage his doubts… but all signs pointed to Caroline. He just needed figure out what was going on with her… and whether or not she was a vampire, or anything supernatural. A part of him continuously scoffed at the thought. After all, what were the chances of that? First his best friend and now his sister? It was statistically improbable… But, then another part would remind him, not impossible.

_Damn it, it just can't be true._

God, he hoped it wasn't… Because that meant that the Caroline he saw in that vision, that might be the same Caroline that was with him now. And it meant that he had failed to protect her. He wasn't able to keep her from turning into whatever she was, to stop her from discovering the supernatural and keep her in the relative safety of the human world.

And that realization, to Stiles, was torture.

So he had to  _know_. He couldn't lie in this limbo of 'maybe' and 'maybe not's for much longer. It was too hard. Either way, knowing was better. Knowing was always better.  _And like I told her. I'll always love her. Even if she hurts me._

Glancing around Care's freakishly neat room, his mind began whirring, trying to figure out where she could've left a clue, assuming she left any.  _Knowing her, the chance is slim._

He started off at her desk, rummaging through the various papers she had lying around, most of which ended up just being homework and other assignments from school (all of which looked completed, much to Stiles' chagrin). He opened up her laptop, easily cracking the password ( _Still the same one from sixth grade, Care? Really?_ ). He browsed through her mail, doing a couple of keyword searches and finding nothing.  _She's more of a text-er than an email-er, anyways._ He deleted his history before re-shutting her laptop and moving on.

He tried to go as fast as possible as he continued his search, and without leaving any signs of his having been there in the first place. The last thing he wanted was an irate sister on his hands, especially if nothing came of this whole thing. Hopefully, she would stay asleep long enough for him to go through everything thoroughly… He was just lucky his dad had returned from work exhausted, going straight to bed without even lecturing Stiles on responsibility when he found his kids watching a movie… Well, Stiles watching a movie, Caroline had already been asleep at this point. (Which is actually probably why he let it go. Seeing that probably reminded him of happier times as it had Stiles.)

After going through her bedside tables, under her bed and her bathroom (he really hadn't needed to see some of the stuff in there), Stiles turned to her wardrobe. He hadn't wanted to go through it at all, knowing it would be stuffed to the brim with Caroline's clothes. He knew there would be a  _lot_  in there, seeing as shopping for clothes was definitely one of his sister's few vices; that and picking up strays… and dating idiot teenage boys who weren't good enough for her.

Cringing in anticipation, he opened the door of the dreaded closet, half-expecting a pile of shirts or something to fall atop of him. Luckily, Caroline was still the queen of organization and cleanliness in their house, so everything was in it's place… Which is why, of course, he noticed the uneven and slightly rumpled pile of clothes in the corner, one of the shirts hanging down as if it was over something. He reached out, immediately feeling a solid object beneath it. Brow creasing in curiosity and suspicion, Stiles pulled thing out from under the clothes, allowing them to fall unceremoniously to the floor.

_A cooler box?_

Stiles looked down at it in confusion. It certainly wasn't what he expected to find. He quickly found the latch, hoping as he opened it that Caroline was just keeping some alcohol or drugs or something in there.  _I'd rather deal with underage drinking or substance abuse than vampirism._

But he should've learned by now. The world hated him.

Because glaring cruelly up at him was a stack of hospital blood bags. He picked up one of the filled bags, stunned, turning it back and forth, hoping to find some sign that this was  _not real_. He found none. But what disturbed him even more were the empty ones that littered the inside of the box. Holding one in his hand, he immediately noticed the large break at the top.  _It looks almost as if… as if someone ripped into it with their teeth._

_Oh, God no._

_Let this not be true._

Desperately, he went back to her closet, rummaging under the pile of clothes, wanting find something else, something that would explain why his sister was hiding  _blood_.

_There's got to be another reason, something that doesn't involve fangs. I would never forgive myself if I let that happen to her._

Only as he shoved the clothes to the side his heart felt as if it dropped from his chest at what he found. He picked up the two stakes (they couldn't be anything else) and stood up, his mind going completely blank as he stared at them.

_Vampire._

It was undeniable.

Stiles wasn't quite sure how long he stood there, stunned to silence, but before he knew it he vaguely heard footsteps in the hall and then an achingly familiar voice.

" _Stiles_! What the hell do you think your doing in my room? And why didn't you wake me up, you know I hate falling asleep in the cou-" Caroline stuttered to a stop as she finally entered her room, her eyes drifting all around the mess he'd created it before falling upon her brother, all accusation draining out of her gaze, replaced with fear, apprehension and what looked suspiciously similar to utter agony. "Oh." She let out, suddenly breathless and terrified.

Any last hopes of an alternate explanation died. It was confirmed.

So Stiles did the only thing he could think of. He asked a question and hoped she would give him a truthful answer.

"So, Care," He began, his voice oddly monotone, "when were you going to tell me you're a vampire?"

Caroline's eyes filled with tears then, and Stiles had to fight the urge to go to her, watching her as the distance between remained painfully definite.

Silence reigned and Stiles had only one thought.

_Why?_

* * *

The roads were quiet as he accelerated, wanting to end this blasted car journey as fast as possible. He really needed to what was going on, with both the Hale pack and a certain blonde vampire. Finally, he spotted something in the distance, allowing his hybrid-enhanced vision to pick it out.

_Welcome to Beacon Hills!_

Klaus drove past the sign with a smirk.

* * *

On the other side of town, the Darach felt the supernatural community of Beacon Hills steadily rising, the twisted features of its face barely visible in the darkness.

_Silas will be pleased… And soon I will have my revenge._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realize that Stiles' reaction was quite extreme, especially in comparison to how he reacted with Scott but I did this for a few reasons; one of the main ones being that he's been familiar with the supernatural for a while now, and his eyes are open in a way they weren't when he found out about Scott. He's knows the dangers of it now, knows it's not all fun and games, and that's the last thing he wanted for Caroline. Also, in canon, Stiles seems to feel a lot of guilt about what happened to his family and, of course, in this AU, that extends to his sister. He feels he should have been able to stop this from happening to her, despite the fact there really was nothing that could be done… But, anyways, next chapter everything will get a little bit better and more things will be explained ;)

**Author's Note:**

> So, this chapter turned out to be almost three times the length that I had originally planned it… Oh well. Hopefully, the next chapter will be easier to write.
> 
> Before I sign off, I’m just quickly going to cover the last few things that I feel you should probably know, just so you all will understand a little more how this story will generally end up working.
> 
> Ships/Couples: For the most part, this will take a backseat in this story; simply because I am going mostly going to be focusing on Stiles and Caroline and their relationship. However, as we get further into the story, I might consider adding it a bit more.
> 
> Updating Schedule: This year is very, very busy for me so sometimes I might update within in a week and sometimes only in three. I do apologize for this but there really is nothing I can do.
> 
> Werewolves: As you know, the werewolves in the shows are different and will continue to be so in this fic; why will be explained later on in the actual context of the story.


End file.
